Seven Days Survivor: The Answer
by Jon-Berry
Summary: With the world saved, peaceful days are upon the residents of the Minatodai Dorm. But how will people react to such things? Covers the epilogue of Persona 3 through the end of P3: The Answer, focusing on Aigis and Midori.
1. 01 Feb 2010 to 09 Feb 2010

**01 February 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Midori's Room**

**Early Morning**

"Midori-san, please wake up." If it was possible, Aigis would have sighed at the sight before her.

"I dun wanna!" The tired voice came from under the blankets the completely covered Midori, herself curled up into a ball in the middle of her bed. "SVD WLD! SLEEEEEEP!"

"You still have to attend classes." Aigis, for a moment, admired Midori's ability to be understood even when not enunciating her words correctly. "Everyone else is awake." She neglected to mention the conditions everyone else was is. They were all, save herself, in various stages of exhaustion. Midori, already not being a so-called 'morning person', was the worst off.

"If you do not come out from under there, I will have to drag you out" Aigis hoped that she had made her threat in a suitably teasing tone of voice. Humanity was _hard_. Especially in the details and social conventions that she was still learning.

The blunt tip of Midori's weapon poked out from under her shroud, causing Aigis to re-evaluate her position. "Don't try," Midori managed to mutter a bit more coherently – a sign that she was actually waking up, "or else I'll hit you."

"Violence is not the only answer" Aigis reprimanded her junior even as she was certain that Midori had handed in her weapon along with everyone elses at their return home last night. She checked her internal clock, and made some adjustments to her predictions. "I will now begin to count down to my removal of your protective sheets." "Four." "Three." "Two." "One." At the termination time, she bypassed Midori's blind counter-thrust and whipped the sheets off the bluenette.

Midori, it seemed, didn't change into her sleeping clothes when she went to bed last night. She was still in her tattered and damaged school uniform. Knowing it was against policy to attend classes in such a state, Aigis ignored the protestations of Midori and cast about with her eyes for a replacement uniform. She found one hanging from the inside of the closet door, and went to retrieve it.

"WAKE UP!" She commanded one more time, already worried that she may have to initiate some of her contingency protocols.

'You're not my daddy!" Midori complained as she shut her eyes tightly against the light and wrapped herself into a tight foetal position.

"No, but I am your dorm mate. Your actions will reflect poorly on the rest of us. She considered getting Yukari to help, but that would require going downstairs, requisitioning her assistance and returning to this room. She judged the time frame as too long. Mitsuru had already left and Fuuka was unlikely to be of proper assistance.

"Is she still not awake?" Chidori said from the doorway, still in her own pyjamas. "Girl, if you're not up and out the front foor in five minutes, I'm going to dump a bucket of water on you."

Midori rolled over and dropped herself out of bed in a most pathetic manner. "Come on!" She groaned, eyes tightly shut. "We saved the world. I deserve a break."

"Sleep in class for all I care!" The older girl grumbled. "Now move it!"

Aigis watched in barely contained awe as Chidori verbally man-handle Midori into wakefulness. It was quite enlightening.

**1****st**** Floor Lounge**

**After School**

Minato came in, announcing his arrival to any who listened. After switching shoes, he went into the lounge only to find Midori spread out on one of the couches, gently snoring. He smiled and decided to let her rest as much as she wanted. They all deserved that much. There was not sign of Apathy Syndrome around town, and things were looking like his victory was real.

Maybe he should take a nap too.

**Tokyo**

**Evening**

FROM: Dolly

TO: A-Bel

RE: Thanks!

_ThankyouThankyouThankyouThan kyouThankyouThankyouThankyou ThankyouThankyou!_

**02 February 2010**

**Gekkoukan High School, Classroom 1-B**

**Lunchtime**

"At least the weatherman said that the weird fog Sunday night won't be coming back again." Midori's ears perked up at the conversation about the current rumours that still surrounded the Dark Hour's appearance past midnight. Mitsuru was on the verge of pulling her hair out trying to figure out the hows and whys, leaving Midori in the know but unwilling to reveal the truth about the King of Bel. Instead, she had simply suggested that the presence of the Appraiser and Nyx had something to do with it, a simple not-truth that seemed to placate all but the most detailed examination.

And seeing as how only Mitsuru and Aigis were capable of that, Midori would let it slide in the interest of the common good.

"Hey, hey! Midori! Did you see the green fog?" A classmate asked of her from a couple seats away.

Midori nodded, "Yep. I think that man from the Health Bureau was right. It smelled weird, so it had to be pollutants from those factories."

"I heard there was this weird tower seen on the island! An that it was right here where the school was!"

Midori shook her head. "Really? A mysterious tower that grows out of the school? What are you? Still in kindergarten?" She didn't want people to think too hard about what they saw either.

It was surprising how easily people accepted the rational explanation over the truth. But then again, she had to remind herself, the truth was known to less than a dozen people.

**08 February 2010**

**Gekkoukan High School**

**Morning**

"Aigis? Why are you hiding behind a tree like that?" Midori thought that the robot just looked sad like that. "I mean, you leave the house early just to hide behind things, and it's starting to annoy me."

Aigis didn't seem to pay her any attention, though Midori knew full well she had been heard. "I mean, it's more than you looking sad. It is kinda cute in the way you lean around the tree like that. No, it's just like you look like a lovesick girl, and _that's_ what's really depressing."

She broke her observations of Minato to turn her full attention to her junior. She had recovered well from the ordeal a week ago, and showed no signs of ever having participated in the battles of the Dark Hour. "But they've..." She brought herself up short. Everyone except her had forgotten. She remembered everything, and she didn't want to take those peaceful days away from them.

Midori rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, stop moping Aigis. We all promised we'd celebrate again at Graduation. And I intend to be there." She paused, recalling the conversation of that last evening. "Although I don't think we ever agreed on where or _when_."

Aigis was shocked. "You... you remember?"

"Yep!" Midori chirped as she moved up beside Aigis to watch the interplay between Yukari and Minato. "I don't know if he does though. And I don't feel like prodding, as much fun as that might be."

Aigis confronted her junior. "I remember because of my Dark hour protection technology. Why do... you..." Her voice trailed off as Midori produced the card of Frosty from a pocket and waved it in front of her face. "Oh. Black Frost's existence was tied to the efforts of the Shomankai Cult, and not directly to the Dark Hour. Therefore, your memories are stored in a manner inconsistent with the removal of the Dark Hour from existence."

"Way to make it sound so clinical and technical there, Aigis." Midori put Frosty away and hefted her school bag off the ground. "Look, let's go to class, shall we? We still have a month before Graduation. Let things happen as they will."

Suddenly confronted with the knowledge that there was someone she could share her newly developed feelings with, someone whom she didn't have to hide secrets from, Aigis found herself reaching out and taking Midori's sleeve in hand. "They..." She didn't know how to say this, but she had to find the right words. "When I left the Dorm this morning, they didn't greet me. They treated me like a stranger."

Midori didn't pull herself free, sensing that Aigis needed the contact more than anything else. "Now that's not right! I mean, we've been together in the Dorm for months! They can't just forget that we're all friends like that!"

"It may be that the memories associated with the Dark Hour are taking away memories connected to them." Aigis' conjecture struck a chord between the two of them. "That is,without the memories of Persona and the Dark Hour to bind them, what keeps us together?"

"Well," Midori said as she watched Minato and Yukari enter the school together. "I know Fuuka is still helping me with my videos. Has she helped you with your maintenance?"

"Not since the third."

"Oh, that's not going to be good." Midori blinked as a thought occurred to her. "Hey! If they forget about the Dark Hour, then what about you being a robot?"

Considering this, Aigis expressed her curiosity in silence. "You mean, the revelation of my nature could restore their memories?"

Midori didn't know. "Maybe. Maybe not."

Aigis felt like she wanted to cry, even though she couldn't. Not physically. "I don't know what to do...!" Downcast, Aigis found herself embraced in a hug from the smaller girl.

"Peaceful days are upon us. We have survived. That's all we wanted, that's all we got. Let them have their lives as we have ours. We don't need to be defined by what happened at midnight, and neither do they. We've saved the world, and that's enough for me. We don't need the praise. It's better that way."

"You speak from experience."

"Yep! So trust me, your senpai in world-saving!"

A hurting smile came to her face, and Aigis saw the shine in Midori's eyes. "Maybe you are right. I haven't given myself enough time to let things happen. Life must go on." She straightened, then picked up her bag. "Come, let us go to class."

Laughing, Midori joined her in walking into the school. "Tell me about it! You're still new to all this, so it seems like you need a friend to help you along."

"Thank you for being a friend." The words were quick and honest.

"You're welcome!" Midori bowed quickly. "Now that that's out of the way, I have a more serious question for you."

"Oh?"

"Well, with the third-years leaving the Tennis Club, Rio-senpai and I, we're starting to scout out new members. Now that you have your feet, would you like to join?" Midori asked the question she had been pondering for more than a week now. "You can't use 'medical condition' to keep you out of the athletics clubs next year, and this way you can join one, even as a manager! We can stick together! Friends forever!"

"I..." Aigis thought about it for a moment. "I would like that, very much."

From the stairs, Minato saw the two of them smiling, and he approved.

**09 February 2010**

**Gekkoukan High School, Tennis Court**

**After School**

Rio looked Aigis up and down, evaluating her body type in terms of possible skill. "You want to join?"

"Yes. Please." Aigis bowed politely. She was in her modified gym uniform as suggested by Midori. It was meant to cover up her more obvious inhuman and robotic aspects. "I think joining you would be good for everyone."

"Huh. Well, have to give you a chance." Rio looked around, seeing who she could pick to volley against the soon-to-be third year. And she did come recommended by Midori, so that had to count for something. "You have equipment?"

Midori jumped in. "She'll be borrowing one of my spares until she can get her own racket." She produced a racket from her bag and let Aigis take it.

Rio shook her head. Well, it was good to see more people take an interest in the club. "You're also going to have to get a proper uniform. The generic gym uniform is enough for practice, but you have to be prepared to actually participate in events and competitions, alright?" Aigis nodded in understanding. "Good, now I'm assuming you know the basics?"

"Yes, Rio-senpai." Aigis had studied the rules of the game after school yesterday, and Midori had given her a crash course in practical motions on the roof in the evening. She felt she was technically competent.

"Good! Suki-chan!" Rio called out to one of the casual members of the club. "Aigis here will be joining. Give her a couple volleys for warmup while I think things over."

"Hai!" The first year came over and gave Aigis a look over. "So, you're that second year Tokyo Transfer, huh? I heard you couldn't do physical activity."

"I have been cleared by my physician." Aigis lied smoothly.

"Cool. Well, I won't go hard on you, so don't go hard on yourself." The two walked towards one of the empty courts, leaving Midori and Rio behind.

"Thanks." Rio said.

"Oh?"

"For all your help this year." Rio shook her head. "I made a mess of things, but at least I can leave the club behind in good hands. You'll do well as Club Captain next year."

Midori did a double-take. "What? Captain? I'm only going to be a second-year! And you'll still be here, it's not like you're graduating!"

"And you're the second best player on the team, behind me. The girls respect you, even the second-years. I'm sure you'll be fine." Rio seemed lost in thought. "Besides, I have to focus on my grades and studies next year. I'll still be in the club, just not in charge."

"I... I don't know what to say..."

"Thank you, Rio-chan would be a good start." Rio offered a hand in congratulations to her successor. "I'll make sure the paperwork is in order before the end of the month. Just promise me you'll be a good role model."

"Thank you! And I will!"

On the court, Aigis faced down her opponent. It was clear that this was a practice match designed to test her basic skills and motor functions, something that brought back memories from her first activations. As Midori had explained things, this would be a simple back and forth, neither person trying hard to defeat their opponent, but to simply make them work for the return shot.

Holding the racket firmly she waited for Suki-chan to make the first move. It came as a simple lob that would, as her calculations predicted, clear the net by 2.3 feet, on a ballistic trajectory that would, if unstopped, would hit to her right and behind her by 4.5 feet. In a word, it was a perfect set up for her to simply swing her arm and hit the ball back.

She figured that a return trajectory that would respond in kind was suitable and swung her borrowed racket with ease.

Suki was up to the challenge, and made her return shot a bit more complicated.

**Minatodai Dorm, 3****rd**** Floor Sitting Area**

**Evening**

The six girls sat in the various chairs, gossiping according to their nature. The news of interest was the Tennis Club, both in Midori's soon promotion to leadership and Aigis' joining.

"I am proud of both of you. You especially, Komaki." Mitsuru didn't bother to disguise her appreciation that one of her Dorm mates was excelling in her extracurricular activities. It reflected well on the both of them. "And you Aigis. I am glad to see you move to improve yourself in this regard."

Both accepted the praise of Mitsuru kindly. "Thank you" they both said.

"So, what about you and Akihiko-sensei?" Midori asked in return. "You're both graduating. What are your plans?"

"I will be attending Business classes in University" Mitsuru said firmly. "I have many skills I must develop if I am to take my father's place properly. She paused, almost confused. "I do not know about Akihiko. You would have to ask him directly."

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully.


	2. 11 Feb 2010

**11 February 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Aigis' Room**

**Evening**

Midori knocked on Aigis' door, hoping she was home. She hadn't seen her after practice, so she hoped she was here, and not out doing something else.

"Who is it?" Aigis asked from behind the closed door.

"You should know it's me," Midori responded, "It's not like I'm sneaky or anything."

"Come in."

Midori quickly slid into Aigis' room, closing the door behind her. "Hey, you have some time?"

Aigis was sitting in her maintenance chair, one of her arms open and her other hand was manipulating some tool or another in it. "I can be available in half an hour. What's this about?"

"Oh, I just wanted you to watch me while I did something." Deflecting the crux of the question, Midori looked at Aigis' arm. "Problems?"

"No, just some routine work." Aigis did something that Midori couldn't possibly understand. "I'll see you after I'm done."

"Alright. Just knock on my door." Midori turned to leave, only to be halted by Aigis' voice.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Always! What about?" She turned around again, going full circle in less than a minute.

"I had a look at a calender, and I was concerned about a certain date coming up." Aigis said as she maintained her focus on the adjustments she was making on her body.

Midori tried to think, but there was only one date that came to mind, plus one other that she didn't know. She went with Option B. "Your birthday?" She looked around the room. "What exactly does a robot get for their birthday anyways? I don't have experience with that sort of thing."

"No, but thank you for thinking about that." Aigis said with a slightly bemused look on her face. "I was more concerned with the cultural holiday coming up on Sunday."

Midori froze. Option A it was then. "Oh, you mean Valentines. And you want my help?"

"Of course. We're friends, aren't we?" Midori flinched inside as Aigis went straight for the throat, so to speak. "I need someone I can trust to make sure I follow the correct protocols."

"Sure I'll help!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Thankfully that bought her enough time to come up with a delaying action. "Just give me some time to think about that. When we meet on the roof, we an do my thing and help with yours at the same time."

"That sounds acceptable."

"Cool. I'll see you in about half an hour then."

**4****th**** Floor, Rooftop**

Rubbing her arms against the unexpected chill, Midori waited impatiently for Aigis to arrive. A glance at her COMP told her that the half-hour wait wasn't over, yet she still felt like it was too long.

Less than two weeks without the Dark Hour and she was already going out of her mind. It didn't help any that she pretty much went right from beating up Bels to fighting Shadows back when she first moved here, she had an outlet for her energy.

Now, nothing. And tennis wasn't cutting it.

The door behind her opened, and Midori spun around, hoping it was Aigis. She would have trouble getting anyone else to be somewhere else if it came down to it. But thankfully, it was Aigis, who closed the door behind her. "Hey. How's your arm?"

"Better. What did you want to talk about?"

Midori reached into her pocket and produced Frosty's card. Aigis immediately looked around, worried. "Shadows?"

"No!" Midori calmed Aigis down. "No, I... well... I..." She took a breath to steady herself. "I want to try summoning Frosty."

"Why?" Aigis quickly came to a conclusion to her question that she approved of, but knowing how sometimes unpredictable Midori was, she had to be certain. "Everything is over and done with. You said it yourself. We get to live our lives now."

Midori's heart beat hard in her chest, and it wasn't about the impending chocolate giving day. "Well... I mean..." She suddenly realized that she didn't have a reason to try. She wanted to do it, and wanted Aigis there in case things went bad, but Aigis' question just led to another string of circular self-justifications. "I want to try!"

A moments silence passed between the two of them. "You want to see if you retain the ability to call forth your Persona outside the Dark Hour from your time in the Tokyo Lockdown, and wish to do so now that there is not pertinent threat in case it fails?"

Midori nodded, not quite sure what Aigis said.

"Then why did you need me?"

"Because you're my friend, and I wanted you to be in here in case I screw up!"

Aigis agreed that when put that way, it certainly made sense. "Have you tried before?"

Midori shook her head. "I've kinda been afraid too." She fiddled with the card. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen? The heavens open up and angels descend to take over humanity, right?"

Completely missing the point, Aigis shook her head. "I haven't tried to invoke my Persona either," she confessed. "I just never saw the point. We won. But I hadn't considered your situation." She looked expectantly at Midori. "Did you want to try first, or shall I?"

Looking at Frosty in her hand, Midori's decision was already made. "I'll go first. You check to make sure no one is snooping first?"

Aigis didn't bother to move, she simply focused on her other senses for a moment then confirmed "We are alone on this floor."

"Thanks. Now, let's do this properly." She held Frosty in her hand, holding it up to the sky in order to make the same invocation that she had when Igor first made things right. "I! Magical Warrior Girl Dolly, do hereby invoke the power of Love and Magical Justice! **BLACK FROST**!"

She crushed the card, and darkness took her.

**Midori's Room**

"Oh, I think I'm going to lose my supper." Midori rolled over as awareness and pain came back to her. Opening her eyes, she saw Aigis about an inch from her face, looking very, very worried. "AAAHHHH!" She bolted upright, pain forgotten in the rush, then restored as she folded over. "Owww..." She moaned for a moment as Aigis gently rubbed her back. "What happened?"

"You summoned Black Frost for 0.3 seconds, during which you fainted, causing your Persona to remove itself from existence." Aigis dutifully reported. "It would appear that your first experiment was a success."

"Tell that to my stomach!"

Aigis handed her a can of soda from the machine out in the sitting area, which Midori gulped down. "Better, but still... What's the point if I collapse?"

"Actually, I think the issue is one of energy."

"Huh?"

"The Dark Hour was composed of variant physics, and even then, Persona users had to, with your exception, use an Evoker to manifest. Through Kirijo Group research, it was determined that the base energy gradient of the Dark Hour was different that the real world, and thus less energy was required for Persona usage." Aigis stopped to let Midori finish her drink. "Mitsuru-senpai actually participated in several experiments a decade ago to help discern this."

"So what you're saying is that in summoning Frosty, I exhausted myself?"

"Correct."

"So what about you then? I mean, don't you have more energy than a human?"

"The relation isn't direct. I'm _optimized_ for operations in the Dark Hour, and my Orgia Mode isn't meant for sustained use."

"Huh." Midori's stomach grumbled. "I need to eat something. Let's continue this downstairs."

**1****st**** Floor, Kitchen**

The two of them, and Koromaru, sat at the table, conversing quietly as Midori ate leftovers to restore her energy. The bluenette looked down at the dog as he looked at the food. "No, Koro-chan. You have yours." Upon the dog's pleading look, she turned to Aigis. "Hey, what about Koro? Did he forget too?"

Aigis nodded in response. "I will get you a treat Koro-chan. Please be patient."

Koro barked happily at his new best friend, spurning the one who wouldn't give him treats. He returned to his cushion over by the television to await what was coming to him.

Back at the table, Midori was putting things together in her head. If what Aigis was saying was true, that sorta fit in with what Igor told her about the Dark Hour, and about the barrier between the human and demon realms. The way she figured it, if Personas drew on the power of Demons, then it was natural that it would take more energy to go farther into the real world than into the border between the two. "So what you're saying is that I need more energy?"

Aigis nodded. "Correct. Humans have a better capacity to grow in response to stress, so it is likely that with enough practice, you should be able to recover your previous strength." She paused to greet Ken as he went by and up to his room, homework in tow. "But if you collapsed so quickly, I do not know how much effort it would be to make your power useful. And even then, even without access to Pallas Athena, I am still capable of fighting."

Midori smirked. "Oh, you have no idea how much I want this." She finished off the last of her food. "Now, what about you? You had your own concerns, right?"

Not sure that she had made her concerns clear enough, Aigis accepted the change in topic, hoping that Midori would prove to be her own downfall in forcing herself to re-learn how to summon her Persona. "Yes, about the 14th..."

"You want to know the correct protocols. Yes, I remember. Alright. Valentines Chocolates. Girls give them to guys, and guys give them to girls on White Day in a month. Got that?"

"Yes." Aigis nodded, "I have done my research."

"So, there are two types of chocolate. Store-bought for the guys you don't feel connected too. Classmates, fellow club members, that sort of thing."

"I understand", Aigis allocated funds for the purchasing of chocolate in her head. "And the other?"

"Homemade chocolate for the guys you really like, or have a good relationship with – or hope to be in a good relationship with."

"Like Minato."

Midori groaned. "Oh, now that's a problem. You see, I can get away with the homemade stuff for someone like Akihiko-sensei, because he's been helping me with my workouts. It's a gesture of appreciation in that case, not a romantic one."

"Why is that a negative aspect?"

"Because you'll be giving chocolates to Yukari's boyfriend." Midori instantly regretted the words as Aigis' face and shoulders fell. "I'm sorry. I know you really like him, but it's the truth." She reached over to wrap the blonde robot in a hug. "Now, there's nothing stopping you from giving him homemade chocolates, but you have to hold yourself back. They can't be as good as Yukari's."

"I... understand."

"Alright. Look. How about this. Tomorrow, we go to a mall and buy the chocolates for everyone else. That way we avoid the crowds of girls on Saturday. And on Saturday, you, me, Fuuka, Mitsuru, Chidori and Yukari, we all get together, take over the kitchen, and have a girl's bake-in?"

"A bake-in?"

"Sure! It'll be fun! All of us in one room, being friends! It'll be great!" She looked up from her seat and into the sitting area that fronted the first floor. Thankfully, Chidori was there, watching the evening news on one of the more distant channels. "Hey, Chidori, you have plans on Saturday?"

The red-head looked up at her two juniors. "No. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, just trying to get everyone together so we can make chocolate for Sunday!"

"No."

"WHAT?" Midori raised her voice enough to put her even further down on Koromaru's friend list. "Why would you say that?"

"I'm not giving anyone chocolates."

"But! But!" Midori watched as her plans started to come crashing down around her. "But we're friends, that's why!"

"We're dorm-mates, not friends." Chidori turned her attention back to the television in full.

Aigis offered a sympathetic look. "That's how I feel whenever I talk to anyone who isn't you."

Slumping, Midori only hoped her life could improve.


	3. 12 Feb 2010 to 23 Feb 2010

**12 February 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Aigis' Room**

**Evening**

Midori looked around at the equipment surrounding her. "Um, you sure we can't do this in my room?"

"No, I require all this to more properly analyze Black Frost during his temporary existence." Aigis noted calmly as she tweaked the last of the gear she had available. "And besides, this time I won't have to catch you when you collapse."

Examining the reclining chair she now sat on, Midori was thankful for that small consolation. "You know, I didn't intend for this to happen. I mean, I just wanted to practice with Frosty!"

"Unintended consequences. And I may not need to do this again."

"Gee, that's a comfort. Is this revenge for beating you in practice yesterday?"

"No." The denial was very specific and very suspicious to Midori's ears. "Ready?"

Holding up the card in hand, Midori nodded. "Zero point three seconds? Let's do better this time." She closed her eyes and focused on the card, using the feelings of her magic use into it, giving it power and shape. "FROSTY!"

She woke and looked at the clock. "20 minutes?"

"Yes." Aigis replied as she handed her a drink that looked pink and smelled of fruits. "Black Frost maintained cohesion for approximately the same duration before de-manifesting. I am still analyzing the results, but it appears that my initial theory was correct. More energy is required."

"But I wasn't asleep for as long this time."

"No. I have two more sub-theories to tell you."

Midori sat up, drinking the fruity thing in her hands. "What are they?"

"First is that you are trying to summon Black Frost as powerful as he was when we faced The Appraiser and Nyx. It may be easier on you if you tried to summon him at his more basic level, like back in September."

"Uh. That makes sense. I think." Midori expressed her confusion as Aigis helped her to her feet. "What about the other one?"

"Not so much a theory as an observation. The reports from the fight against the Hermit on September 5th indicated that Black Frost was quite large in comparison to his current form." Midori knew that was because she had summoned the real thing, the demonic Black Frost, and not the Persona that Igor had made for her. Aigis continued, unaware of her thoughts. "I theorize that was because you put the same amount of energy into the summoning at that moment during the Dark Hour as you did when you summoned him during the daytime of the Lockdown. This, for lack of a better term, overcharged your Persona. I suspect that only calling Frosty forth during the Dark Hour for the last few months has atrophied your abilities in that regard. Regaining them seems to be a good thing."

"So, what? More practice?"

"That would be correct. Once an evening seems to be a good trend until we can establish a better baseline."

"So, what about you and Athena?"

"I have decided to postpone that experimentation until you have properly succeeded."

Midori's eyes narrowed. "You just want to experiment with me, don't you?"

**13 February 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 1st floor, Kitchen**

**Afternoon**

In the end, it was only Fuuka, Yukari, Aigis and Midori who occupied the kitchen for chocolate making. Thankfully, Fuuka had taken charge early on and they hadn't blown anything up yet. Or burned anything that shouldn't have been.

Midori only had one set of chocolate to make, and she made no secret it was for Akihiko in thanks. Fuuka kept her mouth shut, while Yukari accepted the fact that Aigis was also making chocolates for Minato, while at the same time the two of them shared a heated and intense discussion about the specifics.

"It's nice to see Aigis out and about more often." Fuuka mentioned to Midori as they worked at mixing some sugar powder. "She was just so quiet last year."

Recognizing the signs that Fuuka had forgotten about Aigis' real identity, Midori found herself playing along. "Well, I can't say much about that. I mean..." She realized she didn't know exactly what to say, so she tried to let Fuuka fill in the blanks.

"Well, both of you must have had a tough time in Tokyo, and she spent so much afterwards by herself."

Mixing in some more sugar, Midori parsed this information. She hadn't really tried to figure out just what the new truth of the world was now that the Dark Hour was gone. It seems that was a mistake, and now she was playing catch up simply because she wasn't personally affected.

Some more prodding and half answers led her to realize that Fuuka, and by extension, the rest of the Dorm thought that Aigis and Chidori were like her, expatiates from the city due to the terrorism. That surprised her as Aigis was already in SEES when those events happened, and it just never occurred to Fuuka to question that; Midori wasn't about to start either, suspecting that the removal of the Dark Hour was a bit more fragile than she thought.

She would have to let Aigis know about this sooner, rather than later.

**14 February 2010**

**Paulowina Mall, Back Hall**

**Afternoon**

Midori stood in front of the space where she knew the door to the Velvet Room was supposed to be. Naturally she didn't see anything. Looking back and forth to make sure no one was watching her, she produced a small box of chocolates from a bag. "Igor-sama? I'm not sure if you can hear me, but this is for you and all the help you gave. Thank you." She put down the box and walked away.

**Minatodai Dorm, 3****rd**** Floor, Aigis' Room**

**Evening**

"How did it go?"

Aigis didn't look up from the screen she was looking at. Apparently the results from this evening's attempt to summon Frosty were pattern-building, and thus quite engaging to the robot. Munching on some leftover chocolate from the cooking yesterday, Midori looked over Aigis' shoulder and saw nothing any human could possibly understand. Wavy lines and hordes of numbers flashed by, causing her to give up after a mere blink.

"Aigis?"

No response. Whatever it was completely occupied Aigis' thoughts. Not knowing when she would get a response, she slipped out of the room and down the hall to her own domain. She really needed to do a Valentines Day special and upload it. Step One: Find Fuuka.

"_HELLO EVERYONE!_

_It's Dolly again!_

_So, today is that very, very, vewy special day when all you girls out there give chocolate to the boy you like. Now, obviously I'm uploading this in the evening so you should have all done it by now._

_Except for those of you planning something extra! kyaaaa!_

_Oh? Who did I give mine too? Well, I can tell you that I obviously gave some to the boys in my class and in my dorm. But a special someone? Well... Iwonttellanyofyou!_

_So, now the far more important question is this: How many of you boys are going to do White Day properly? Huh? I better hear good things from the girls who gave you something precious!_

_It also coming up to the finals and everything, so I won't be as free to talk to you all as much as I'd like. But don't worry! I love you all!"_

**18 February 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Aigis' Room**

**Evening**

"You know, someone is going to start asking questions if they see me coming in every night." Midori complained slightly as she put on the measuring patches for Aigis' machines. "I mean, studying only gets us so far when we're in different years."

"And yet my math marks are consistently higher than yours." Aigis replied. "It is within reason that I would tutor you." She raised an eyebrow at Midori. "Do you need one?"

"Oh, no, please!" Midori lay back on the seat and waited for Aigis to give the signal to begin. "My marks are good enough."

"Mitsuru-san says they could be better."

"Nothing less than 100% is 'could be better' in her opinion. I have a more reasonable view of the capacity of us mere mortals." She gave Aigis an evil eye. "I'm not certain about you though."

"Anyways, have you made your preparations?"

"You mean trying to figure out how to not overpower things?" Thinking over the past few days had made Midori realize that she had been entrapped by everyone elses' suppositions and mistakes. All because she wanted Frosty, and had to recruit Aigis to help! "I figure I'll envision it like pouring tea. I'm the kettle, the card is the tea filter, and Frosty is the cup."

Aigis stopped what she was doing, looking up in surprise. "That seems like an apt analogy. Do you think it will work?"

Holding Frosty in her hand, Midori shrugged. "I don't know. Let's try it out!"

Holding true to the images in her head, Midori gathered up her strength and this time slowly fed it into the card. She had to fight her natural inclination to simply dump everything she had into the artifact, even though she knew the response. It was hard.

Finally, she felt like she had reached a breaking point of sorts, she crushed the card and released the energy into the real world. For a moment, it felt like she was going to be dragged along, her own essence pouring into the form of Frosty as he was made manifest.

But then the pressure stopped, and she looked into the happy glowing red eyes of her Persona.

_Then_ she blacked out.

**23 February 2010**

**Gekkoukan High School, Teacher's Lounge**

**After School**

With a final stroke of the pen, Midori was officially the new Captain of the Tennis Club. Well, in six weeks after the new school term started. For now, Rio was still captain in practical measure, and would be spending the time to catch Midori up on all the requirements of her new position.

Leaving the office, she saw Mitsuru and Aigis both standing there. "Congratulations are in order, Komaki-san." Mitsuru said, bowing politely. Aigis mirrored the action. "If you require anything from the Student Council, feel free to see me." She turned and left to go back to her other business.

Midori leaned in to whisper to Rio. "How much of this was me being good for the job, and how much was because I had an in with President Kirijo?"

"Oh, just a little bit. Besides, you're also friends with Chihiro-san, and she's running for Vice President next year." The soon-to-be third year smirked. "You have lots of qualifications!"

"I hate you."

"Excuse me," Aigis said as she came closer. "but we do have practice to go to."

"Oh! Right!" Rio started to head towards the gym. "I'll go ahead and prep the girls for the good news. Don't be late!" She ran off, leaving her last words in the air.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this, Aigis." Midori confessed once she was sure anyone who would have cared was out of earshot. "I'm not much of a leader."

"You'll do fine." Aigis reassured her. "Anyways, I was processing the data from our experiments, and I've come to some conclusions."

"You couldn't wait to tell me after supper?" Midori was quite surprised, not only at the timing, but the statement itself. "I mean, now you'll have me distracted for hours!"

"I know!" Aigis smirked. "It'll throw you off your game, making my victory much easier. And I do have things to tell you."

"You... you...!" Midori stood, mouth agape as Aigis walked calmly away. "I'm so PROUD of you!"


	4. 24 Feb 2010 to 05 Mar 2010

**24 February 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 1st Floor Lounge**

**After School**

Kicking off her outdoor shoes, Midori scratched the side of her head as she tried to figure out what she was going to do until the next year started. There was also the issue of her impending birthday, and while she would normally be looking forward to her 16th birthday, there was just something about it that didn't appeal to her. It was like she was crossing some invisible threshold into something larger, something far scarier than anything she had ever dealt with before.

For someone who had faced down Demon Kings and the end of the world (twice!), it disturbed her to think there was something she wasn't prepared for.

Not to mention the impending graduation of Mitsuru and Akihiko. And with that, the test to see who still remembered the Dark Hour past her and Aigis.

But all seriousness in her thought crashed to a halt when she saw Minato and Yukari napping on one of the couches. What brought a barely contained squeal of joy to her was that they were leaning ever so gently on each other. It was just so... _lovely_ that she had to flee lest she do something that would ruin the moment. So instead of doing whatever it was she was planning on, she quietly but quickly ran past them and up the stairs to the safety of the third floor and her room.

And once she was away from them, then maybe she could release some of the happiness she felt.

**26 February 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Aigis' Room**

**Evening**

Friday had come again, and Midori found herself in the mist of Aigis' science. "I wish I had access to an MRI," the robot girl complained as she set up what devices she had. "It would help immensely."

"Um? Aigis?" Midori had thought about what she was going to say now between her other commitments over the past week or so. It had started as a germ of a doubt, but had grown when she had free time to think about her actions and her choices.

"Yes?" Aigis didn't stop what she was doing, secure in her ability to multitask.

Realizing that she had already committed to upsetting Aigis in some fashion, Midori forged ahead anyways. "I know you want to help me with this," she gestured at the electrodes and other measuring devices, "but I think this isn't the best way to go about it." She paused when she saw Aigis was standing inhumanly still, a sure sign that she had missteped. "I want for you to help, but I think you're taking things too far..."

"Out."

Midori had no idea that Aigis would have responded that badly to her attempts to regain control of her situation. "Aigis...?"

"Out."

Recognizing her folly as well as now doubting its necessity, Midori gathered up her things, made herself presentable and left.

She had her reasons, she tried to justify to herself. She had to stop Aigis from falling into a bad routine. The robot still hadn't tried to expand her social circle; she was too dependent on Minato and herself to lead her and it had to stop. It hurt her to even try, and it obviously hurt Aigis to force her out of her comfort zone, but she did love Aigis, and it would be better for her this way.

Midori resolved to make her own recordings of her experiments with Frosty to act as a peace offering when the time was right.

**28 February 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm**

**Evening**

Midori stormed out of the dorm, barely slowing to rip her jacket off its hanger before slamming the door behind her. From her seat, Mitsuru looked up with some trepidation. She saw Koromaru covering his ears at the noise and offered him a gentle rub to let him know everything was going to be alright. The Dorm's adopted pet appreciated the gesture and licked her hand in response. Mitsuru knew that Komaki had received a phone call from her father on the line to her room as was the usual between the two family members for a Sunday.

But Midori's reaction was out of character. It was quite unlike her to be so obviously upset. But she was still the head of the Dorm, and anything that bothered those under her care bothered her too. Giving the dog one last pat she gathered her own jacket and went in pursuit of their runaway.

**Naganaki Shrine**

She sat there, atop the slide. It was, all told, her favourite place. Raising her eyes to the stars that began to poke into the evening sky, she thanked them all for watching over her friends and herself. It seemed like a safe bet, given all she knew about the gods, to ask for help from something so far and distant. The stars would never turn on humanity.

The crunch of feet on the gravel heralded the arrival of someone and she looked to see who it was, half expecting Minato or Akihiko. Maybe even Chidori or Aigis.

She didn't expect Mitsuru to be standing there, arms crossed against the chill of the growing dark. "Hello, senpai" she said quietly, hoping to not disturb the peace of the world around them.

"What's wrong, Komaki-san?" The red haired woman asked as casually as she could. Which is to say, not at all.

"Nothing." Midori didn't want to talk about it. At least not right now. There would be time for that later. But not much, she knew.

"Your tears say otherwise."

"I'm crying?" Midori wiped at her face, and found her hands streaked with clear tears. "Oh! Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to."

"If something is disturbing one of my dorm-mates, it is my responsibility to look after them." Mitsuru said patiently. "I know for a starter that you and Aigis have having troubles."

"Eh!" Midori's train of thoughts regarding her circumstances were completely derailed. "No! It's not about that! Aigis and I are on the outs because she's been depending on me too much!"

Surprised that her misdirection worked so well, Mitsuru found herself latching onto the factoid that Midori had spilled without apparently meaning too. "There is nothing wrong with supporting your fellows." A sudden chill washed over her. She _knew_ that there were some things about Aigis that were not supposed to be public knowledge, and Aigis had sworn up and down that no one without clearance knew her secrets. The possibility that Midori _knew_ was unsettling. But then again, if there was a problem, Midori wasn't the best person to hide things, and Aigis would report it.

So she had to assume that Aigis' secrets were still safe. Which still left her unknowing of the real reason why Midori was in her current state. "When we can depend on the people around us, then we are all better for it."

"It's more than that. She won't reach out past herself. I had to pretty much force her into getting onto the Tennis team, and our study sessions have been going downhill..." She sighed, dancing around the real issue awkwardly. "It's nothing you can do."

Offended that someone would suggest that something was out of her power, Mitsuru glared. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"My dad's been transferred. He calls it a promotion, but it's not really one. He's gone from the _Featherman R_ franchise now that they're revamping into _Neo Featherman_ and he's now going to be working for some department store called July or some English word. I'm moving at the end of March."

"Junes." Mitsuru corrected, recalling some snippets of information about the franchise. She would have to do some research shortly. "I'm sorry to hear that. Where are you going?" Then what Midori said hit her. She was being forced to move. That meant paperwork, and a lot of work had just been wasted. With an internal sigh, she resolved to begin the necessary work tomorrow, as well as notifying the former Tennis President that she would need to choose a new successor, or stay on for another year.

"Some hick town in the middle of nowhere. Inabra, or something like that. I looked it up on the census. It's a farming community and my dad is supposed to be working there to make it work out in the entire prefecture on the advertising side of things." She kicked the slide in anger, ankles banging against tin. "And I have to go with him so he can 'present a fatherly image' or some bullshit like that. I have to move away from my friends." Her voice dripped with uncharacteristic venom.

"You should be proud. Your father is moving up in the world." Trying to defuse Midori was an exercise in patience Mitsuru had learned.

"BUT I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE!" Midori yelled again at the sky. "I don't want to leave my friends behind – AGAIN – all for the sake of my father's job! I want to be me!"

"You can't always get what you want, Komaki-chan." She felt a bit guilty using the more intimate honorific, but for some reason, it felt right in coming off her tongue. "If we could, my father would still be here."

Midori curled up, bringing her knees to her face. "I know. I shouldn't take it out on you. But it's so hard. I finally get settled in, make new friends, and then I have to move again! This'll be my third High School!"

"You're right. I don't know how to help. I can only say that you must be strong. Do not abandon your friends for this sake. You'll still have phones. You can call them. Call me if you have to, though I don't know when I'll be available."

"Thank you Mitsuru-san. But I'd like to be alone for now." She pulled out Frosty and held him tight, the one friend that could never leave her, nor she him.

That was one request that Mitsuru had no intention of honouring. It would be wrong to abandon any one to their misery, especially a friend who had stood by her and suffered for her sake. _Why did I think that?_ her thoughts confused her as they waited together in silence.

**05 March 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 2nd Floor, Minato's Room**

**Early Morning**

Aigis knocked on Minato's door, expecting no answer. But he did, and she noted with some trepidation that he looked so very tired. "Can I come in?" She looked back at Midori, who only gave her a sign of encouragement which she refused to respond to.

Stepping inside, she looked into his dull eyes, and saw that he did remember. "Thank goodness." she said, letting out a breath she didn't know she had taken in. "You remember. So do I. And Midori-san."

Minato nodded. "Graduation. I'm not surprised you remember. But Midori?"

She smiled. "She's weird, remember?"

"Aren't we all?" Minato yawned. "I'm not going anywhere. I promised, and I keep my promises."

"Yes. Yes you do." She looked at the clock. "But it seems you slept in. We must hurry or else we will miss the ceremony."

The two of them joined Midori and went down to the first floor where they collected Koromaru's leash. Chidori wasn't in, and they briefly discussed finding her before heading down to the school before deciding against in. Everyone in their due time.

**Gekkokan High, Rooftop**

**Morning**

Midori stood watch over by the doorway, Koromaru safely leashed to prevent him from exploring over the edge. Behind her, Aigis and Minato sat on one of the benches, enjoying the beautiful spring morning. She knew they were talking, or rather, Aigis was talking and he was listening.

They had skipped the Graduation Ceremony itself. By the time they arrived, it was already well underway, and they didn't want to spoil it by being a distraction. Instead they waited for the others to arrive, and they were content to wait for however long it took.

Steps, and Midori looked below her, seeing a familiar crowd ascending towards her. She cheered and waved, cajoling them for taking so long.

The golden blue butterfly flitted past her field of view, and she turned to join her friends. There was nothing left for them to do but enjoy these brand new days.


	5. 06 Mar 2010 to 24 Mar 2010

**06 March 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 1st Floor Lounge**

**Evening**

Closing the door behind her, the latch clicked shut far too loudly in the face of the deep abyssal silence that met her return. Mitsuru's feet felt like they were made of stone, her legs encased in concrete for all the weight they dragged her with. It was too painful, and she shied away from the questioning gazes that were directed at her.

It was the wrong thing to do as her rejection allowed the more perceptive residents of the dorm to read the truth in that moment. "I'm sorry." There was no sense in delaying the inevitable. She could only hope they would find in themselves the mutual strength required to face this.

"The Doctors couldn't..."

"NO! No! NO!" Yukari jumped to her feet and yelled in anger. "This is no time for joke! He was just exhausted! He was just tired, that's all!"

Midori reached up and tugged on her senior's sleeve. "Sit." She forced herself to keep her voice calm and stoic in the face of the inner and outer turmoil. Death in battle was one thing, she had long since found it in her heart to accept such things. But this was a far different foe, only no amount of Love or Justice could overcome – they could only be used to heal the wounds.

"NO! This is a bad joke senpai! How is he, really?" Yukari refused to recognize Midori's pull, her reddening eyes focused only on Mitsuru and the door behind her, hoping past hope that Minato would walk right into her arms.

Aigis placed a firm hand on her other shoulder. "Mitsuru would not lie to us. His vitals were failing as he was loaded onto the ambulance." She tried to be call, but the memory of not being allowed to go with Minato to the hospital filled her with heartbreak.

"No!" Yukari wrenched herself away from the two trying to hold her in place. "I have to see him!" She tried to manoeuvre past Chidori, whose own grip was more firm.

"That's enough." Unlike the others, her voice had a hard edge to it, and she refused to let go when Yukari tried to force her release. "I know what you're feeling. More than you know. But running away isn't going to help you." The redhead was trying to offer awkward sympathy towards Yukari's plight, but it fell flat. Turning to Mitsuru, she asked a question meant to make the reality of their situation more real. "Do they have a reason yet?"

Having changed her boots or something more indoor-appropriate, Mitsuru came close to Midori, offereing her own physical and mental support. "No. The autopsy is scheduled for later in the week." She took a hold of Midori's shoulders and brought one tear stroked face to another. "I'm sorry, Yukari. I really am. But he was just gone."

Yukari's legs gave out, Mitsuru catching her as everyone crowded around. Minato was dead, and there was nothing they could do.

**08 March 2010**

**Gekkoukan High School, Tennis Court**

**After School**

* whock *

Midori reached out to return the volley shot from Rio, the two of them alone on the courts on this day without an actual club meeting. The long swing sent the green ball on a sharp angle aoss the court, but Rio was already in motion and returned the ball by gently tapping it over the top of the net. Midori made a mad dive to get her racket under the ball, but it wasn't enough. The ball slapped the ground to end the game. "Match" Rio announced as she ducked under the netting to offer a hand to Midori as she got to her feet. "Are you alright?" She asked quietly as the two of them returned to the bench to rest and rehydrate. "You and Aigis have been completely out of it."

The memorial had been this morning, and the school was in a general state of shock. It was bad enough that one student had been murdered earlier in the year (even if he was a delinquent), but to have a student simply drop dead on graduation? It was enough to make the entire student body and faculty step carefully around everything. Already the rumour mill was exploding with the notion that during the time the school was closed before the next semester that there would be some priests doing exorcisms and blessings, just to be on the safe side.

Midori shook her head to hide the sudden rush to her face. "No. No. I'm alright. I'm more used to it than most. She remembered how Junpei had received nothing more than a private memorial, there being no body to inter. Officially, he was still 'absent' from school. "Please don't tell me you believe in the whole Cursed Dorm thing?"

Rio had to admit the truth. "Just a little. I mean, so may bad things happening this year, and all focused on that one Dorm. It has to be cursed."

Midori gave her an evil eye. "I suppose you'll add me to that list, right? Being attacked and sent to the hospital?"

Rio almost spat in shock. "Oh! Wait! You live there?"

"Yes." If she could have gotten away with it, she would have summoned Frosty and used him to make the air very chill with her annoyance.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry." Realizing she needed to change the subject, she switched over to a person relevant to both of them. "How is Aigis taking this?"

"Poorly." Midori grimaced at the thought. "She had this huge crush on Minato, and even sat beside him in class for a semester." Putting her drink back in the bag, she stood up and stretched. "Have you picked a replacement for me yet?"

Rio shook her head in the negative. "Not yet. I kinda pinned all my hopes on you. You sure you can't stay?"

"No," Midori's regret was real. "I know how important my daddy's job is, and I can't just leave him alone like that. It's bad enough we've been living apart since August."

"Ah, one of _those_ families."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Midori questioned hard. "_What_ kind of family?"

Rio began to verbally backpedal. "No! Not what I meant! I just meant that I never took you as the kind of family who liked being apart!"

Huffing, Midori picked up her racket. "I talk to my daddy every Sunday, and even more often. Just because I had to move while my school was shut down doesn't meant I had to enjoy it."

"Sorry." Rio muttered, hoping to find a distraction she could use. Thankfully, one came up.

"Midori-san, Rio-senpai." Aigis greeted each of them. "There is no practice today."

"Hey Aigis. No, I needed to work off some of my frustrations." Midori said as she looked her senior up and down. "If you want, get changed and I'll rally against you."

Aigis considered the offer. "No, I don't think that will be necessary."

"Alright then." Midori accepted defeat with a slight slump of her shoulders. "I'll get changed and we can go back to the dorm. Unless there's something else you want to do?"

"No," Aigis responded curtly.

As Midori left, Rio patted the spot next to her, part inviting, part commanding Aigis to sit. She did so. After a moment, Rio spoke. "You don't have to be so harsh to her, you know. She's only trying to help."

"..." Aigis aborted her attempt to reply, instead using silence to defend her.

Rio recognized that Aigis didn't want to talk about this, but something in her told her to pry. It was more than just the desire of a person who wanted to get to know another, and to try to help them out. "Alright, what caused this?" If being discrete got her nowhere, it was time to push harder.

"I cannot say."

"Can't, or won't?"

"That is none of your concern." Aigis' voice grew a hard edge to it, enough to let Rio know that she had indeed overstepped herself.

"Hey!" Midori called out from the entrance to the school. "What were you two talking about?"

Needing a distraction, Rio blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "You both live in the Cursed Dorm!"

"The Minatodai Dormitory is not cursed." Aigis seemed almost annoyed at the implication. "What makes you say that?"

Rio was aghast. "How could you not have heard! Even Midori has!"

Raising her hand, Midori interjected with a defence for her dorm-mate. "Hey, let's be fair, I'm a lot more social than Aigis. She's only really started talking to people since February." She tried not to sigh. "But she still needs more work there" she muttered. Putting her hand down finally, she raised her voice to a normal conversation level and addressed Aigis directly. "Alright, short version. Because of Fuuka, Shinji, Me, Junpei, Minato and Chidori, people think our dorm is cursed and haunted."

"Wait!' Rio interjected. "Who's Chidori-chan?" This new information was far more interesting than a remorseful Aigis. Who knows, maybe even the two of them were connected!

"Oh... Ah! Chidori lives in the Dorm. I'm not allowed to say more than that." Midori quickly tried to shut down that particular line of questioning.

"I wasn't aware that we were allowed to talk about Chidori-san outside of the Dorm." Aigis said to slightly admonish Midori. Rio, realizing she needed to prod Aigis more than Midori about this mysterious resident of the Cursed Dorm strode off to one side to relax a bit and plan out how best to get more juicy information.

**14 March 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Midori's Room**

**Evening**

"Fuuka, pass me the packing tape please." Midori held closed the box containing the last of her costume designs with one hand, the other beckoning for the item she wanted.

Passing it over, Fuuka went back to folding spare sets of clothes, making sure that Midori had enough for her last couple weeks and a dedicated suitcase for packing them at the last minute. "Is this your new uniform?" She asked as she held up a brown dress. "Have you tried it on yet?"

Midori shook her head. "No, not yet. Daddy sent it to me, and I just haven't found the time."

"You should try it on!" Fuuka held out the dress eagerly. "Give it a fitting before you get to Inaba. Please?"

Sighing, Midori took the dress and moved behind her privacy screen. "When did you get so pushy?"

"Oh, I learned from the best." Fuuka shuffled some stuff out of the way as Midori changed. "Have you talked to Yukari lately? She's been keeping to herself a lot."

"She's been avoiding me too. Even Chidori has had trouble talking to her."

Sighing, Fuuka readied herself. "She's not taking this well at all. I was hoping she would have opened up to you or Chidori-san, given your... well..."

Midori popped her head around the side of panel. "What? Because I'm the most used to having friends die? That's not nice Fuuka. Even if it is with the best intentions. Pass me my sewing kit will you? This waist is a bit too tight."

"Sure." She found it and tossed it over the top of the screen. "So, what have you learned about your new school?"

"You mean, aside from it being in the middle of nowhere? The town is in a valley, and there's a separate school zone for the entire area. Mitsuru provided some information, but it's all quite dry. Just facts and numbers."

"Well, I think you'll do good there!"

"NO! They don't even have a high-speed internet connection! I'll have trouble with my shows!"

Fuuka laughed.

"Not FUNNY!" Midori yelled back. "How can I perform for my adoring fanbase when it'll take hours to upload even a small video?"

"It can't be that bad."

"Yes! It can!" Midori finally emerged from behind the screen and faced Fuuka. Who had a running camera in her hand. Instantly shifting into Dolly mode, Midori spun around on her toes, letting the hem of her dress float up. "Hey all! How'd'ya like my new school uniform? I told you I'm moving again, and this is what I'm going to wear for the next year. Don't you think it's cute?"

She smiled for the camera, allowing Fuuka to pan up and down. "But, because of everything that's happening, once this show goes up, It'll be at least a month before my next one." She pouted cutely, posing with one finger against her lips. "See you all later! Buh-Bye from Dolly!"

Breaking character, she glared at Fuuka. "Way to put me on the spot there." Taking a moment to examine her new school dress in a bit more detail, she was attracted to the checker-board pattern on the collar, and said as much to Fuuka.

"See! There's something to look forward too already!"

**15 March 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 4th Floor Command Room**

**Evening**

Mitsuru followed Midori into the room, closing the door behind her. "Take a seat."

"This isn't about school, is it?" She smoothed over the skirt of her new uniform, having been pressured into wearing it the entire day instead of her Gekkoukan uniform. The brown primary colouring contrasted with the lighter uniform. She had commented that the difference was one of earth and sky, and Chidori had agreed. Though she had noted that Midori looked better in lighter hues, what with her head being in the clouds and all that.

"No. It's not." Mitsuru sat down in the chair at the head of the table. "Aigis briefed me about your experiments."

"Oh. Oh!" She suddenly felt like she was under a magnifying glass. "So, um, I've been making recordings for Aigis." It was a half-hearted defence of her actions, and it showed in her speech and posture.

Sensing this, Mitsuru acted to alleviate her junior's fears. "No, you are not in any form of trouble. I wanted to congratulate you, Komaki-san, for your initiative and achievement." She leaned forward to bring herself closer to Midori, and to try and be less imposing. "You took it upon yourself to continue to expand your power and skill when all the rest of us could not. It doesn't matter your motivation; what matters is your results." She smiled. "I am proud of you."

Naturally, Midori was stunned. She just couldn't understand why Mitsuru would react like that. "Um... thank you?" she said as she bowed awkwardly. "I mean, Aigis helped too..."

"I understand you two collaborated, but in the end, it was your initiative." She paused to order her thoughts. "That's why I wanted to offer you again the opportunity to stay here in Tatsumi Port Island. With your power, I can better justify you staying here where we can conduct further research into Personas."

"No."

Mitsuru stopped, like the world had suddenly done something so inconceivable that mortal minds would rebel at it. And given she had fought the Appraiser, that was a high bar. "I'm sorry. What?"

"I've already thought about that. I've had weeks to think it over." Midori shook her head sadly. "I know I want to stay, but I know my daddy's job is important, and he wouldn't have asked me to come if it was avoidable."

"I accept." Mitsuru was prepared for this contingency. "I have to ask that you keep a record of your experiments and keep both myself and Aigis appraised of developments as they occur. I know you two are currently not talking, but that shouldn't affect your professional development."

Midori's mind failed to restart properly again. "You're not angry with me?"

"No? Why should I? If you feel I should be offended by your actions and keeping the information hidden from me, I cannot be, as we expected memory loss from the Dark Hour vanishing. Thus your actions in that time frame were well within reason."

"Oh."

"I just wanted you to know that. That I approve of what you did." Mitsuru smiled again. "Now, perhaps you can do me a favour?"

"Yes, Mitsuru-senpai?"

"Can I see Black Frost?"

**22 March 2010**

**Paulowina Mall**

**Afternoon**

The Sunday afternoon was passing quietly for everyone. Mitsuru wanted everyone out this day because she had some Kirijo Group contractors coming in to examine the building. Midori had wandered over to the mall in a fit of boredom. A lot of her fellow students were walking around, getting ready for the spring term. Most of her stuff had been shipped out yesterday, leaving her with the bare necessities for the last week.

She had to resist the impulse to shop for stuff. Then she'd just have to pack it up again.

Actually, now that she thought about it, picking up some going away presents would be a good idea. Something for Aigis for certain. And Chidori. And Akihiko. And Ken and Koro-chan. Maybe Yukari. Maybe Mitsuru. Standing up, she took in the stores and services offered. The more she thought about it, the more it really did look like a bit of shopping was in order.

**24 March 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 4th Floor**

**Evening**

Mitsuru welcomed the rest into the room. "I have a couple announcements to make with the end of the year coming up."

An uncaring Yukari waved one hand. "Sure, whatever."

Resolving to talk to Yukari firmly in private later, Mitsuru dropped the bad news. "The Dorm will be closed down."

"WHAT?" Midori's loud gasp overwhelmed everyone else's comments. "Well, alright, this doesn't affect me, but why?"

Aigis cocked her head. "With there being no further use for SEES, we should remove all trace of our existence."

"Aigis is correct. The dorms are being shut down to allow for renovations, we will be removing all the Dark Hour technology and support infrastructure." Mitsuru gestured to the bank of computers lining one wall. "I've arranged for new locations for everyone who is staying" - a look at Midori - " but there are a couple other announcements I have to make as well. First, Yoshino-san will be attending Gekkoukan for her last year. I expect you two, Yukari and Yamagishi, to make her welcome. She has a lot of catching up to do, and I trust in your abilities."

"Congratulations, Chidori." Akihiko smiled a little at that announcement. "I was wondering how long you were going to freeload around here."

"I wasn't a freeloader. I was technically a prisoner who aided SEES."

"You're a friend!" Midori argued against Chidori's self-depreciation. "And you'll have fun! You can join Aigis on the Tennis club!"

"Actually, that leads me to my final announcement." Mitsuru was a bit more morose for this. "Aigis has chosen not to continue going to school. She has chosen to return to the Kirijo Group labs."

"...!" Midori was struck speechless and Ken filled in the silence. "But why?"

"I no longer have any reason to stay, and as such, I have decided to finish my current enrolment and return to standby duty." Aigis didn't seem like she understood what she was doing, causing Midori to stand up and point a finger at her.

"That's not fair! You promised you'd do stuff!"

Aigis was apologetic. "I'm sorry. But while I want to, there is little to hold me here. It is better if I left."

"And when did you think to tell Rio and the others in the club? They were looking up to you to next year as a prospective star player!"

"I am sorry." Aigis tried to find a way to explain her decision to someone who had already made up her mind about things, but failed as Midori took the silence to simply get up and walk away from the meeting.


	6. 24 Mar 2010 to 31 Mar 2010

**24 March 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor**

**Evening**

Aigis turned from the landing to head down towards her room, only to come face to face with an obvious angry and irate Midori. She knew this confrontation was going to happen, and had thought to prepare her arguments ahead of time, but in the face of the sheer look of betrayal, her explanations failed her. "EXPLAIN!" The demand was short, to the point, and completely hostile.

"I do not have to explain or justify my decision to you, Midori. They were made in the best interests of everyone, including you."

"No! That's bullshit and you know it! We promised we'd be friends!" Midori punched the wall, lashing out in frustration at the suddenness of it all. "Look, Aigis, I get that you really don't know anyone outside the Dorm, but that's no reason to just up and _quit_ over us moving out!"

"I am sorry..."

"No! Sorry doesn't excuse you! Just tell me why you're doing this!"

Aigis tried to find the words, but she couldn't. "I just... I don't know. I don't want to be something I'm not, and this is the only way."

"You've got that wrong! How can you be yourself if you turn your back on everyone else?" Midori left her accusation drifting in the air for a moment as she launched into another assault. "And what about Rio-chan? Or Yukari? Or Fuuka? Or Chidori? Huh? Did you ever stop to think what you're doing to them as well?"

"Regardless, this is still my decision, Midori-san. You have your life ahead of you, let me live mine." Aigis brushed past Midori, leaving the bluenette alone in the hallway to fight down her emotions, and with no real answer.

**31 March 2010**

**Minatodai Dorm, 4th Floor Command Centre**

**Afternoon**

"Are we it?" Chidori asked Fuuka as she came back into the room, cellphone in hand.

"Yes." Fuuka shook her head sadly. "Yukari's not coming."

"And Akihiko-san said he was still busy with other commitments." Ken sighed hard. "I don't think he'll be here either."

Midori leaned back, rolling the back of her head over the top of the couch and kicked her feet up onto the table in defiance of Mitsuru's glare. "Oh come on! Last day of the Drom, and they both bail out on us? They should have more respect than that!"

Aigis chose that moment to enter the room, dressed for the last time in her public outside clothes. In her hands was an Evoker. "This is the last one," she announced before adding it to the neat and ordered row on the table. Once for each member - past and present - of SEES and the Nyx Annihilation Team.

Mitsuru took this time to address Midori. "I know full well asking you to turn in your Evoker was a purely symbolic gesture. I can't take your summoning focus from you as it was never property of the Kirijo Group to begin with." She gave an inward sigh of relief when Midori took her feet off the table to let her lead forward and examine the many devices. "Are you sure you won't reconsider my request?"

"No. As much as I would _love_ to get poked and prodded by scientists hoping to learn more about Personas," only the dead would have missed the sarcasm in her voice and body language, "I still think it's best for me to move to Inaba." She raised her hand in solemn oath. "I promise not to use Frosty unless it's an emergency, and I'll call you the moment I can if I do." She recited the terms of her agreement with Mitsuru casually and drew the Black Frost card out from her jacket to place on the table.

"With Mitsuru-san's persuasion," Aigis changed the subject with little tact to let the others know the other end of that bargain, "you can all visit me in the Lab. I won't be placed on standby, but will stay active at a low level for the foreseeable future."

"You do remember that I'll be like, six or seven hours away, right?" Midori grumbled at the distance placed between her and the victory she fought for. "You better keep your phone charges, of I swear I'll find a way to make you."

Aigis put on a fake smile. "Of course. Don't worry about the long-distance charges. And I've set myself up with a proper e-mail account as well. I'll text it to you later."

Knowing that was the best she got, Midori looked at the clock. "Gods, why do I have to take the 1:30 AM train? Sitting around all day is going to kill me!"

"Well, if it'll make you feel any better, I've ordered in supper for us tonight. It will be the last meal we share together for quite some time, and I want it to be special." Mitsuru took to her duties as head of the Dorm seriously, even when there was little left to do.

"You always prepare good meals for us, Kirijo-san." Chidori was a bit more formal in her acceptance of the offer, although Midori thought it was just the result of being forced into the Gekkoukan High uniform this day in preparation for her official first day of classes in a week and a half.

**1****st**** Floor Lounge**

**Evening**

"That was wonderful, senpai." Ken thanked Mitsuru as they all worked together to clear the last of the dishes from the table. Dumping them in the kitchen sink was the last mess they planned on making. Back in the lounge, Fuuka turned on the TV to the local news.

"...ber of Apathy Syndrome cases seems down from last month, reports the local hospital, spelling an official two month crash in the number of victims of this still analyzed condition. According to research carried out by the Ministry of Health and Welfare..."

Koromaru yawned, causing Ken and Midori to echo the gesture. "Oh man, it's almost midnight. I should take a nap before I leave." Midori stretched her arms and legs, making one last visual check that her final suitcase was still beside the door.

"Just curl up on the couch, it's not like you have a bed anymore." Fuuka offered her shawl as a makeshift blanket. "Is the alarm on your COMP set?"

Midori nodded, producing her portable device from a pocket and set it down on the table. "Right here. Set to 12:45. The taxi is scheduled to arrive 5 minutes later, and I'll be at the train station with 20 minutes to spare."

"I too should retire for the evening." Aigis said as Midori turned on the couch to face the ceiling.

There was little left to be said, and as the clock ticked towards the end of the month, the rest made their own excuses and went to their rooms for one last night.

Midori was asleep when the clock struck midnight, and she never noticed the world shift. The television still on, the Announcer said that it was now the 31st of March, and for all their viewers to enjoy the last day of the month.

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dorm, 1st Floor Lounge**

**After Midnight**

BOOM

Midori jolted awake, her glasses falling off in the sudden motion. Scrambling for them, she glanced at her COMP to see that the time was 12:31 AM.

Another loud boom came from the kitchen, and Midori was thankful that the lights were still on for her. She saw that the table had jumped into the air, then crashed back down. "KEN!" She yelled, hoping the boy on the floor above was still awake, "KORO! AIGIS!" Another crash, and she flinched as the table was knocked to one side. "EVERYONE GET DOWN HERE NOW!" Her yell became a scream of warning as she scrambled away from the kitchen and back to where her jacket – and more importantly – Frosty was waiting for her.

Above her, she heard Koromaru start barking, causing Ken to stir. Another crash and she hoped that even Mitsuru on the fourth floor could hear it, though it was painfully loud to her. Ken was first downstairs, sleep being rubbed from his eyes. "What's going on?"

The table bounced off the floor again, causing Ken to back away carefully, eyes glued to the floor underneath where Midori couldn't see. "Dori-chan, was there a hole to the basement here?"

She let his shortening of her name pass by without comment. "What are you talking about?" Another crash. "And are you hearing chains too? There's only the one way downstairs."

Chidori and Fuuka reached the bottom of the stairs. Both were dressed for the night, but were wide awake. "I'm going to get Aigis!" Fuuka quickly said as she climbed back up the stairs. "Aigis! Wakeup! We need you!"

Holding Frosty tight in her hand, Midori focused all her attention on the table. Now that her heart had slowed, she found that it seemed like the table was being bounced in a regular pattern. If she was right then...

CRASH! The table flipped over and a large doorway flipped open in the kitchen. "Right on time" she muttered to herself. "You guys! Stay back!" Warding off Ken and Chidori, she crushed the card in hand, releasing Frosty. "Check it out" she whispered to her Persona, who nodded and quietly walked forward towards the edge of the divider wall between the sitting area and the dining area.

She realized that the world was wrong. Frosty wasn't being the drain he was in the real world, and it was more like the Dark Hour. She didn't like the implication, but held herself ready as her hands found a lamp on the table beside her. With a yank, she ripped it out of the socket, leaving her with a weapon she hoped she wouldn't have to use.

A solitary black-hued figure emerged from the impossible hole in the ground.

"Is that.. Aigis?" Mitsuru said from the top of the stairs, having just made her way down all the flights.

A mental command, and Frosty ran back to Midori. "No" she said. "It looks like her though. Did we have any spares in the basement we kept chained up?"

The unknown Aigis-lookalike surveyed the room through its butterfly mask. "Targets acquired" she said in a feminine voice, then dashed around the corner of the upturned table at Ken and Chidori. The two tried to get out of the way, but the robot was too fast, even as Midori opened her mouth to command Frosty to attack. Ken was knocked to one side, landing hard on his side, while Chidori took the worst with a solid punch to the gut.

"FREEZE!" Midori commanded Frosty to use the Bufula Dance, hoping the multiple hits would connect, as well as telling their attacker to stop in the same breath.

The dark-armoured assailant was only clipped by a single shard of weak ice as she danced around them to angle on Midori herself. Aghast that her attack was no where near as powerful as she wanted it to be, Midori barely had time to defend herself from the war-hammer as the silly thought crossed her mind.

Last time she fought Aigis, it was over in two blows. Would this be the same? In the background, Mitsuru was saying something, then Aigis was there.

Still holding her guard, Midori looked past her aching arms as Aigis reached the bottom floor, taking a protective position over the recovering Ken and Chidori. "Who are you? What are you? Identify yourself!"

"..." The dark counterpart to Aigis aborted her attack on Midori, although she refused to take a parting shot at the attacker's back. "You're... Aigis?" She was one of the good guys, even though it would be so easy to smash the lamp into the back of the other robot's head.

"Identify _yourself_ intruder!" Aigis demanded again as she readied her inbuilt weapons and Evoker for battle. She was already calculating various options and realized the best chance of victory involved Midori's assistance.

"I am Metis. I am here to save you." The now identified robot said from behind her mask. "These people pose a threat and they must be eliminated."

Aigis raised her arms. "You will do no such thing! They are no threat to me, or to you! Stand down!"

"They must be eliminated!" Metis repeated her assertion, readying her own weapon. With her focus firmly on Aigis, Midori started to move to flank her more properly.

"Aigis!" Midori jutted her words in edgewise. "You can use Athena! It's like the Dark Hour now!"

Sparing no motion to indicate that she had heard Midori, Aigis shifted to a more aggressive stance.

"Why would you say that?"

"I must save you from them!" Metis raised her voice and charged Aigis. The blonde robot dodged the heavy blow with practised, but oout of practice ease. Her counter-attack with the wrist mounted weapons was similarly defeated. From behind the two, Midori added an Agi to the mix, glad that Metis was caught by surprise, and the fire damaged her armour.

"Psyche! FATAL END!" Midori had no room to avoid Metis' Persona, and was knocked down by the blow, the shock forcing Frosty to incorporealize and return to card form in her hand. "Do not resist!"

The distraction was enough for Aigis to close to pointblank and grab Metis' mask. With a massive wrench, she tore it off, leaving a trail of wires to reveal her opponents face. Red eyes and Black hair opposed Blue and White in a contest of wills. "ATHENA!" Aigis shouted, bringing her own Persona into play as Metis triggered her own advantage. "Orgia Mode, Active!"

Persona met anti-Shadow overpower, and for a moment, all seemed in balance. Then Athena began to crumble. The raw energy being put out was just too great for the immaterial persona, and with a gut twisting smash, was ripped apart by Metis' own attack.

For a moment all was still, the remaining shards of Athena hung in the air, glistening like diamonds in the sky. Aigis screamed without sound, her eyes fixed on something only she could see.

Then the diamonds collapsed. Not to the ground, but in that small moment of time, they collapsed inward, towards themselves, reforming the Persona.

But it wasn't Athena. It was one Midori hadn't seen before, but apparently the others had. "Orpheus..." Mitsuru whispered in shock.

The revitalized Persona whipped through the remaining energy of Metis' attack, a single punch delivered to the face of the robot, sending her rolling back down into the hole she came from.

Then Aigis collapsed.


	7. 31 Mar 2010 to The Abyss of Time (1)

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dorm, 1st Floor Lounge**

**Early Morning**

"Aigis!" Fuuka ran for the collapsed robot as Midori gathered energy enough to re-summon Frosty to her side. Ignoring the rest, she carefully advanced on the hole in the floor, her improvised weapon still in hand.

"Metis is down. Or, at least, she's not moving," Midori reported as she didn't want to risk descending into that weird place by herself. Instead, she gave her Persona a nudge with her foot and sent it down to explore for her. Frosty took three steps, then looked back at her, reflecting her own worries about the stairs that went down farther than the basement actually went. Perhaps because she didn't want to go down there yet, Frosty refused to go any further.

"Mitsuru-san! Aigis is hurt!" Fuuka checked out Aigis, and was worried by what she saw. A glance from Midori showed at least one heavy dent in her outer chassis.

"Amada!" Mitsuru spun on Ken, ready to take give orders to anyone necessary to assure teh safety of the Dorm. "Can you move?" He nodded, though he held himself like he was hurt. "Go to my office and get our Evokers." She made way for him to climb the stairs.

Beside Midori, Koromaru took position to guard the new and still impossible entrance. He sat, staring at the unmoving Metis.

Soon, Ken came back down, thumping a large suitcase behind him. "This is heavy," he complained as Mitsuru took it from him and bent to open the lock. When the top was opened, she took an Evoker for herself, and handed three more to Ken. "Give those out." She pulled out the specialized harness for Koromaru. "I'll do this one."

"Fuuka, I know you really need to help Aigis, but right now I need to know if Metis is really down, or just faking. Can you and Juno scan her for a moment?" Midori shifted from side to side, keeping her in motion in case she needed to really move.

Fuuka looked up, taking a moment to switch mental gears to understand Midori's request. "Yes. Yes. Good idea. Mitsuru-senpai, can you watch Aigis for a moment?" She waited for an affirmative response before going over to Midori and Koromaru. Taking her Evoker in hand, she took faint comfort in the fact that Midroi had identified the region below them as something like the Dark Hour; it was only a comfort in that she would be able to summon her "Juno!"

But it was not to be. "Lucia?!" Surrounded by her initial Persona, Fuuka was startled and caused it to collapse. "What? I sensed that Metis is unconscious, but what happened?"

"I don't know." Midori admitted, though her concerns were more on their attacker. "Go back to Aigis, I'll stay here."

"Agreed." Mitsuru said. "Yoshino, help me and Yamagishi take Aigis back to her room. We should still have equipment up there to help her." Mitsuru took Aigis by the shoulders and waited for the others to come and help move the fallen robot. "Komaki – secure Metis. I'll contact Takeba and Akihiko as soon as I can to come here. Until then, you're in change down here."

"What? Me?" Midori's focus was damaged by the sudden change in responsibility. "Alright, but please come back down soon." Looking at the stairs in front of her, she tried to figure out how to restrain something that could fight Aigis to a standstill. As the others disappeared up the stairs, she finally had an idea. "Ken, I know there's some construction material being stored in the back of the kitchen, where the delivery door is. See if there's something there we can use to tie her up with." Ken nodded and went to his assigned duty. "Koro-chan... uh. Stay."

With instructions out of the way, Midori began to descend, Frosty at her side. She took each step one at a time, waiting ready in case Metis moved. Her plan was simple. They would tie Metis up, then everyone would take turns guarding her until they could sort things out. "Oh, gods..."

She had gone down far enough to look up, and her voice was filled with annoyance and other less acceptable emotions when she saw the empty sky above her with a hole in the world leading back into the real world. At the base of the stairs, an almost featureless sandy plain stretched to the distant horizon. It would have been featureless except for the doorways arranged in a semicircle at the base of the stairs, all of which pointed inward. Midori had no trouble believing that they led to places other than here.

Reaching the bottom, she put one hand on the sandy ground, feeling nothing out of the ordinary. Frosty, at her urging, took the first step. When nothing happened, she hopped down lightly. Looking back up, she saw Ken's worried face. "I'm alright!" she said loudly. "We're going to need everyone here sooner or later."

"What about Metis?"

"Right." She saw the still-fallen robot and kicked her in the leg very gently, to see if she could get a response. Not ever her feet twitched. "Frosty, grab the legs, I'll grab the shoulders. We'll carry her up the stairs."

Her Pesona nodded and went to his designated position. Soon the two of them had dragged Metis up into the Dorm and sat her down in a chair. Ken was quick off the draw and had the chain ready and soon the two of them had wrapped Metis up as tightly as they could.

"I'm going to report to Mitsuru now," Midori said, "you two keep an eye on her. Stay back a bit."

**3****rd**** Floor, Aigis' Room**

Midori knocked once on the open door before letting herself in. "Metis is secured as best we can. Ken and Koro-chan are watching over her. How's Aigis?" Inwardly, she was surprised at how empty the room was. It never occurred to her that Aigis would prepare any of her things for moving out like this, but as she glanced about, she saw that any indication of her attendance in school was simply... gone.

"She's asleep for now," Fuuka said from beside the robot as she reclined in her maintenance chair. "She should be awake, but she's not."

"Mitsuru-senpai, I went down into that hole Metis came from to retrieve her." She hesitated, still unsure how to describe what was down there. "It's another Tartarus, I think. It's bigger down there than the basement is."

The others stopped. "Oh no," Fuuka whispered. "What are we going to do?"

Mitsuru's expression grew hard. "Metis and an impossible location under the dorm? I was going to wait until morning, but now I can no longer delay. I'm calling Takeba and Akihiko now." She looked around at the others in the room, deciding what was best to do with them. "Komaki, continue to aid Yamagishi. Yoshino, go downstairs and help them." She hurried to leave the room and make her calls.

Silence descended across the room. A thought occurred to Midori and she whipped out her COMP. "Oh no!" She looked around for confirmation but found no other clocks in the room. "I missed my train!"

Fuuka shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. I don't think any of us noticed. Do your tickets allow for later connections?"

"I don't know. I'll have to check." Damn it. She was about to close her COMP when something else caught her eye. "Uh, it's supposed to be the First, right?"

Fuuka nodded.

"Then why does this say it's still the 31st?" She handed over her device to be examined, and Fuuka's expression grew puzzled.

"Mitsuru said this was connected to a Dark Hour shielded server, right?"

Knowing the full extent of the deception that SEES had wrapped around themselves, Midori nodded. "Not that I knew that. But I mean, it's gone through the Dark Hour every day for five months and didn't lose a beat. Why now?"

"It could be a server glitch. Try resetting it." Midori did, but the date stayed the same. "Huh. Server side it is. Nothing I can do about that now."

Silence returned and Mitsuru eventually returned. "Akihiko is on his way, I've left a message on Takeba's phone. Any progress?"

"No." Fuuka admitted. "She's still asleep."

"Very well. Let us go downstairs and see this place Komaki looked at for ourselves."

Midori yawned. A huge thing she had no warning was coming, and suddenly a great drain was drawn on her. "Oh, I'm tired" she said as she looked around. "I'm sorry Senpai. I've missed my taxi, and the fight was harder on me than I thought."

Mitsuru agreed with the assessment. "Get some sleep then. I know your room is empty, but Takeba's should still have a mattress and blankets. I'll arrange alternative transport for you once the situation allows."

Once she had her directions to rest, Midori tuned out the rest. She was tired, and wanted sleep, strange robots and broken servers be damned.

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, (Formerly) Yukari's Room**

**Early Morning**

Midori rolled over on the futon and scrabbled for her glasses. Once they were on, she rose to a sitting position and took stock of her situation. She was tired. She had nowhere near enough sleep as she checked her COMP, which told her it was barely 6:30 AM, 31 March 2010. Oh, her COMP was broken too. Groaning, she felt her arms for the bruises from the pounding she got last night.

Well, there goes the hope that it was all just a bad dream.

Her stomach growled at her, and with a groan, she looked around for her discarded Inaba uniform. Smoothing out the worst of the wrinkles, she put it on and collected her COMP before heading downstairs.

Before getting to the stairs though, she stopped in front of Aigis' door. A pang of worry shot through her. She tapped on the door quietly, and when there was no response, she found it was unlocked. Opening it up, she saw Aigis still asleep and unmoving on her maintenance chair while Fuuka was sleeping on the more comfortable recliner that Aigis had for guests.

She slipped in, leaving the door open behind her and checked on Fuuka first. Finding that someone had laid a blanket over her sometime earlier relieved her. Ignoring the impossible to decipher technical things going on, she went to check on Aigis. Still motionless, she didn't react when Midori waved her hand in front of her face, nor when she put that same hand against her cheek.

Through the front chassis, Midori could feel _something_ moving within, and that told her that Aigis still had a chance to recover.

With no more, she headed downstairs.

**1****st**** Floor, Sitting Area**

Several pieces of information crossed her eyes as she took in the revamped lounge and dining area.

First was that the table that had been knocked aside saw now leaning up against one wall, the staircase into that realm outside of the world cleared of all obstruction. She also saw that their attacker was still sitting in her chair, chains wrapped tightly around her.

Standing guard over her was Akihiko, who saw her and beckoned her over. "Hello, Midori."

"Good morning, Akihiko-sensei." She bowed properly. "How is our guest?" She indicated Metis with one hand.

"Still not responding." He paced back and forth. "I got in a couple hours ago. Mitsuru told me that Yukari would be arriving later today."

"That's good to hear." Midori saw that Akihiko had his Evoker on him. "I checked in on Fuuka and Aigis before coming down. They're both asleep."

"I'm relieved to hear that." Akihiko paused in his pacing to sit down. "Everyone else had returned to their rooms to rest. How about you?"

Something bothered Midori. "Actually, I need to check something." She pulled out Frosty's card and stepped carefully around Metis to get at the open passage. "Frosty!" At her summons, the Persona emerged. "Damn."

"Oh?"

"It's just that it's still easy to summon Frosty. This thing" she pointed down into hole, "is responsible."

Akihiko nodded in understanding. "I see. Do you think I should try to call forth Ceaser?" He motioned to his Evoker, trusting in Midori's judgement in this matter.

"No. I've been practising, and I don't want to have to explain to Mitsuru why you're unconscious." She shook her head and returned with Frosty to her seat. "Damn, I gotta phone my daddy and let him know I missed my train."

Akihiko hid his surprise at Midori's slight curse. She wasn't the kind of person to be negative like that, but he figured that this situation was stressful enough that he'd let her behavior slide just a little bit. "Go ahead."

Leaving Frosty to stare at Metis, Midori bemoaned the fact that she had packed her cellphone in her luggage – though it was still there beside the door. It would be easier to use the Dorm's land-line phone. Picking up the handset, she was halfway through dialling when she realized there was no dial tone. Resetting the phone, the second attempt failed. The third try involved unplugging and plugging the phone back in, and still failed.

"Problem?" Akihiko asked from his seat.

"Yes. Phone's broken." She set it off to one side and went to open her suitcase. Thankfully she had enough presence of mind to put such vital things at the top, she grabbed her phone and flipped it open.

No signal.

"This isn't right..." She took out the battery and then slotted it back in, hard-resetting the device. Still no signal. "Akihiko-san, can you find a different phone? Something's not right here." She couldn't help but let a point of worry cross her voice.

"Sure." Leaving Midori and Frosty to guard Metis, he quickly ran up to the fourth floor where he knew there was a phone in the office.

While he was moving, Midori pulled out her COMP. It still showed a signal, but then again, it always did. Part of her started to wonder how she could get a signal in the Dark Hour and in real life, but answers to that were beyond her.

It still showed that it was the 31st though, and with everything else not working, she decided to send a test e-mail.

_FROM: Dolly_

_TO: At-low_

_RE: Weird things_

_Hey, my COMP says it's the 31__st__ again when today is the 1__st__. Is there something wrong with Babel?_

With one last button press, it was sent. And with no error message returning to her, she could only presume that her message had been sent out properly.

While waiting for Akihiko to return, she decided to have a closer look at Metis. The damage inflicted by Frosty and Aigis last night was still apparent. While Frosty had caused some slight scorching damage to the black polished surface, it was still apparent that Aigis' ripping of the mask off had been the worst of it. She found the red hued thing sitting on the table and out of curiosity picked it up.

She couldn't see through it, but that wasn't surprising in the least. Turning back to Metis, she looked over her in more detail.

What really stood out was that she was a lot more human-like than Aigis. She was smoother, with less in the way of externally visible mechanisms (she still boggled at how no one had noticed or commented about that at school, or in the club. One of the mysteries of the universe, she supposed), and her skirt kept up the butterfly motif.

She knew it was important, that. But for the love of her justice, she couldn't place it. Discarding the thought, she circled their captive, checking the chains to make sure they were still tight. With that done, she looked over Metis' shoulder at Frosty. "Well, now what?" Her complaint could not be answered as Frosty couldn't speak.

Remembering that she was supposed to be hungry, she headed for the kitchen to see if there was anything for her to snack on, or at least an egg or two she could fry up while Frosty kept watch.

As she passed into the dining area, she stopped instead to look down into the hole in the world. Poking one finger across the transition line of the floor, she found it was still just as real as anything else.

Another rumble from her stomach reminded Midori that she really needed to stop procrastinating and eat something.

A few minutes later, she emerged from the kitchen with a couple of fried eggs on a plate. Akihiko was back, and gave her a confused eye between her and Frosty. "You can see through him?"

"What?" Expressing her confusion, she ate one of the eggs. "No, I can't. I just told him to attack if she did anything."

Wondering just how much control over her Persona Midori had, Akihiko got back to the issue at hand. "I tried the phone in Mitsuru's office. It's also not working."

"Could be a problem with the phone lines then." Midori ate the last egg then put the plate down. "I'll check outside."

"It doesn't explain why your cell-phone was out of service." Akihiko countered logically. "And there wasn't an earthquake to disrupt service like that."

Midori tried the door, but it didn't open. A push and pull and a look of worry flashed across her face. She tried again, harder this time, but the door still wouldn't budge. Annoyed, she gave it a kick, only for it to stand firm. "Akihiko-sensei? We have a problem."

He came over to the door and seeing her distress, gave it a try himself. When it refused to budge gave it a strong push and pull, trying to rattle it loose. "What the...?

"I'm going to check the back door." Midori said as she ran back into the kitchen, barely slowing down to grab her plate and dump it in the sink to soak. A moments fighting told her it was stuck as well. Rushing back out into the main lobby, she relayed this information as well as her desire to check the door leading to the roof.

**4****th**** Floor, Lounge**

Midori didn't bother stopping as she came off the stairs. She just ran and tackled the door, slamming into it with an over-loud 'BANG'. But it didn't budge. For good measure, she kicked it, but while the wide door-handle slammed down, the door didn't move.

She cursed.

"What's going on, Komaki-san?"

Spinning to face Mitsuru, she saw the high-school graduate had rings around her eyes, and for a moment she refused to believe that it was Mitsuru at all by the completely dishevelled appearance. Then her disbelief was gone. "Mitsuru-senpai, the doors won't open and the phones aren't working, not even my cellphone." She kicked the door behind her once more for good measure. "It's like we're trapped, and I'm betting it's that thing under the Dorm and Metis' fault."

Expressing her displeasure with Midori's abuse of the door with her eyes, Mitsuru tried the door herself, only to fail. "Does..."

"Akihiko-sensei knows, he's checking things out too." Midori cut off the obvious question in annoyance at their situation. "So far it's just the three of us awake."

"Keep checking, I'm going to get dressed." Mitsuru ordered Midori as she tightened her sleeping gown. "Try not to wake anyone else yet, they may need to be well rested."

"Of course."

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dorm, 1st Floor Lounge**

**Daytime**

The three of them sat around the table, Metis still chained in her chair. Mitsuru had decided to not wake anyone else until they had a better grip on their situation.

Unfortunately, they had no further information. Akihiko had opened the curtains and tried to get the attention of people outside but to no avail. Midori had tried to open some windows, but they were as stuck as everyone else.

"Any further ideas?" Mitsuru asked them in a controlled voice.

"Punch a hole in the wall?" Midori's suggestion was enforced by Frosty waving from his spot on the table.

"Actually, how long have you had him active?" Akihiko tried to divert her from her plans to damage the building. He cast a glance at the hole in the dining room to assure himself it was still there. "I mean, this is longer than you've been practising, right?"

Midori nodded. "Yes. I mean, you want me to put him back?"

"No, no. It's just more proof that our problem is that, and Metis." Akihiko pondered their options. "I suppose it's like Fuuka being trapped in Tartarus when she first awoke."

"I see some theoretical similarities, but the facts are different." Mitsuru replied. "We can still observe the outside world, even though we cannot interact with it."

"So what happens when Yukari tries to come in?" Midori asked as she looked at the door in expectation. "I mean, she said she was coming over, right? Will she be able to open the door?"

Silence.

"I would hope so." Mitsuru admitted after a while. "We should make it a priority to be aware of her arrival so that we can make sure she is aware of our predicament."

"You mean, you want her to open the door and then we keep it open?" Midori chimed in.

"An acceptable outcome."

"Hey, Midori-chan?" Akihiko said to change the subject. "I hope we can get this resolved by this evening. I'd hate for you to miss your train."

Midori snorted. "I missed it last night. Not sure when I can take the next one."

"Wait, you were planning on leaving yesterday? I thought you were taking the train just after midnight tonight?"

Midori opened her mouth to continue the circular argument when something struck her. "What day is it?"

Akihiko seemed confused by the question, while Mitsuru paused in thought. "It's the 31st," he said after a moment.

"Oh. That's not good." Midori examined her COMP to confirm that it still said that date. "Akihiko-sensei, for everyone in the Dorm except for you, today is the first of April."

"That's..." Akihiko accusation died on his lips. "That's not the sort of jest you would make."

"What are you suggesting, Komaki?" Mitsuru asked as she contemplated what was suggested, hoping that Komaki had more information than her; or at least a better theory.

"Nothing." Midori unknowingly shot down Mitsuru's hopes. "I'm just saying that after I turned on the TV, the weather channel showed what was yesterday. And my COMP says it's yesterday too."

Realizing that not only was such a jest out of character for Midori, but that Mitsuru was taking the possibility seriously caused Akihiko to ponder it as well. "But what...?"

Midori and Mitsuru both gestured at Metis and the hole in the dining room. "That's the source of our concerns."

Standing, Midori straightened her skirt. "Senpai, sensei. I'll go wake up the others now."

"Of course. And report on Aigis' condition."

It took about half an hour, but Midori had finally managed to rouse and collect everyone else. Returning to the living room behind Chidori, she saw that someone had prepared sandwiches for lunch. "Thanks for the food," she intoned before grabbing one. She went to grab her seat only to stop and glare at Koromaru. "And please don't sniff at Frosty."

The dog gave her an annoyed huff, but relented from examining the motionless Persona. Once everyone was seated, Mitsuru gave everyone a quick briefing on what they have confirmed, and some of their less confirmed theories and observations.

"A time loop? That sounds preposterous." Chidori complained.

"It's not that much of a stretch from the Dark Hour existing in a realm where no time passes." Fuuka offered in counterpoint. "Although there's no way to confirm that theory until tomorrow." She shrugged before continuing. "Aigis is still recovering. I discovered some supplies that I can use to help protect her more, but they seemed to be from an old version." She then went on to express her confusion. "I mean, I could have sworn that I had gone over everything, but this seems new to me."

"See if it will help," Mitsuru commanded before moving on to the next topic. "Now, as for Metis, I haven't had a chance to look over what records I have upstairs from the development of the whole series that led to Aigis for clues as to her existence." She looked around for a volunteer to help her, but none offered. "Yoshino, would you be so kind to assist?" The redhead grumbled, but acquiesced. "I'll also need to keep a guard posted here to watch over her as well as for when Yukari arrives. Akihiko, Amada, Koromaru, if you please?"

Midori was surprised she wasn't asked, but held her question on the assumption that there was a reason for it. "Yamagishi, take Komaki and work at getting Aigis back up." Oh, that made some sort of sense. After Fuuka, Midori knew she was the most technically savvy person in the building.

"What about exploring down that hole?" Ken asked politely.

"Not until either Aigis or Yukari are available," Mitsuru said, "Although I would prefer Aigis as that would also free up Yamagishi and Komaki." She stood up, signalling an end to the meeting. They all dispersed to their new duties.


	8. The Abyss of Time (2)

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Aigis' Room**

**Daytime**

"This is it?" Midori hefted what looked like an armoured vest out of its box, grunting at the weight. She looked at it with a critical eye as Fuuka poked at it, examining it for something only she knew to look for.

"Yes. Put it down."

With a thankful grunt, Midori set the vest down on the workbench. "That's heavy! You sure it was meant for Aigis?"

Fuuka nodded, looking down at the paperwork that came with the add-on. "Yes. It was apparently designed to offer extra protection for Aigis at the expense of mobility." She looked over to where Aigis still slept. "I hope this will help. She should have woken up by now."

Midori offered a helpful hug, which was reciprocated. "It'll be alright, she'll wake up. It's like she was sick and needs to sleep it off." She let go of her smaller but older friend. "Now, so I'm assuming there is more to this than draping it over her shoulders?"

"Yes. I'll need you to hold things while I do the installation."

As they worked, Fuuka found herself in a comfortable place, allowing her to raise a question she had meant to ask. "Are you feeling alright?"

Unsure of the meaning of the question, Midori passed over a screwdriver. "I'm alright. I mean, I'm stuck in the Dorm with everyone, and while I would certainly enjoy the extra day with everyone, the circumstances, and the fact that my daddy must be worried... well..."

"I think I understand. But I was also asking about you. Metis hit you last night, and you and Frosty were fighting."

"Oh?" Midori grinned. "I'm perfectly fine! Even the bruises are fading." She rolled up her sleeves to show that fact off. "Hey, speaking of, where's Frosty?" She looked around the room and then patted herself down while searching for the card. "Frosty? Frosty!"

"I last saw him downstairs, on the table." Fuuka commented. "I know you're powerful like that, so I assumed you left him there in case something went wrong."

"But that's just it!" Midori started to sound worried. "He doesn't do anything unless I tell him to." She started for the door. "And I thought he was with me."

Fuuka reached out a hand to steady Midori. "Maybe he's down there still because you want to be down there yourself?" She knew that given the option, Midori would choose the more active one, so it only made sense.

"I'll go check." Midori was determined, but also recognized the validity of Fuuka's words. "I'll get something for us to drink as well." With that promise, she was let go.

**1****st**** Floor Lounge**

Bouncing down the stairs, Midori followed her heart and saw that indeed Frost was standing on the table, stock still, watching Metis with burning eyes. She breathed a sigh of relief, and Frosty turned to give her a wave.

The motion was enough to grab other people's attention, and Midori found herself fielding questions about Aigis' condition from Akihiko and Ken. "Is she alright?" "Yes." "Has she woken up yet?" "No!" "Bark!" "I don't speak dog!" "Hee-Ho!" "Shut up Frosty!"

"Look," she finally managed to take control of the conversation, "Fuuka and I are working on Aigis. I'm just grabbing some water for us. We'll let you know when she wakes up, alright?"

"Our apologies." Akihiko said. "We're all worried for her, so we had to ask."

"Apology accepted." Midori announced as she turned her back to them and proceed with her real intention for being down here. "Frosty did behave himself, right?"

The three guards all looked at the black-skinned persona. "I still have trouble grasping how you do that." Akihiko finally admitted. "He was right here the entire time, but didn't do anything until you came back down."

Nodding, Midori released the focus she held on Frosty and he reverted to the card in her hand. Just like that, she felt like she had more energy than she had in days. She resolved to be more careful about that in the future. "Now, unless there's anything else?" Leaving the question hanging and when no answer was forthcoming, then went about her business.

**Late Afternoon**

It was quiet for the most part. Fuuka and Midori had worked as best they could to repair what they could with the parts at hand. The new layer of armour seemed to fit well, and right now the two of them rested.

Their quiet vigil was halted when a commotion came from downstairs. Hearing it, the two girls went to the top of the stairs and listened. They could hear various voices, but nothing distinct. "I'll go get Mitsuru and Chidori," Midori offered, "and you go downstairs."

"Right." Fuuka agreed and began to descend. Midori took the other staircase, ascending to get the others. She encountered them in the sitting area, themselves attracted by the distant commotion, and after explaining that she was coming to get them, they all headed downstairs.

On the way, she explained what progress had been made on Aigis and apologized for being unable to wake her.

"There is no need for that. You have done the best you can under the circumstances." Mitsuru praised the efforts made so far. "Now, let us see what this is all about. Perhaps our guest has awoken?"

"As long as it gets us out of here, I don't care." Chidori's comment was quite cold, but was something that the others could agree with.

**1****st**** Floor Lounge**

"No, I don't know why you didn't answer the door! I knocked! You ignored me!"

Yukari was standing by the door, angry at the attention she was receiving. On the other side, Akihiko was annoyed that she had apparently decided to sneak in the front door.

Neither side was budging, despite Fuuka's best efforts to play moderator. Mitsuru took one look at the situation, and knew she had to stop it. "Akihiko! Yukari! Stop!"

Instantly there was quiet, a skill that Midori wanted to have because it would be so cool. "Now, one at a time, Yukari first, I want both of you to explain just what happened here." Mitsuru commanded, and none opposed her.

Yukari explained her position. "I finally had time to come by, as none of you were answering your phones." She looked around at the awkward and confused faces of everyone else. "Right. Whatever. So I knocked, and there was no answer. I knocked again, and still nothing. So I open the door, come in, _announce myself_ and still nothing, so I figured you were all upstairs or something. I take a few steps in and suddenly people were here and that when we started arguing."

"Thank you Yukari." Mitsuru turned to Akihko. "And you?"

"We were watching over Metis and the door. Then Koromaru started barking and we saw that Yukari was standing there. We didn't hear any knocking, so she surprised us when she appeared."

Midori looked at Yukari. She was dressed in her winter casual-wear which seemed odd given the apparent urgency of the situation. It was almost like she wasn't taking this seriously at all.

"I find both stories odd." Mitsuru tried to figure out how they could both be telling the truth. "Yukari, could you please see if you have a signal on your phone? We have been having troubles communicating with the outside." The explanation seemed to be enough and Yukari quickly located her phone and tried to make a call.

"That's weird. Hold on, let me step outside." They watched as Yukari tried to open the door, but failed. After a moment's fighting with it, she stomped around to bring an angry face against everyone. "What the hell? This better not be a joke!"

A word of annoyed refusal died on Midori's lips as Fuuka spoke up. "We've all been trapped in here. It started when Metis arrived." She pointed at the bound robot, still unmoving.

"Metis?" Yukari seemed to take account of everyone present. "Who is she? And where's Aigis?"

"Aigis was hurt in the fight." Midori interjected. "And we've got this weird hole in the floor of the dining room. Want to see?" She tried to bring some levity to the conversation, but it fell flat.

But Yukari did respond by walking heavily – not quite stomping, but no hiding her annoyance either. She examined Metis briefly, then went over to the hole in the floor. "Oh, this is all kinds of wrong!"

"Agreed." Several people voiced their opinion simultaneously.

"So... what?" Yukari didn't seem pleased by all these developments one bit. "You're saying we're trapped in here?"

"That is correct." Mitsuru said. "We were hoping you could provide us egress, but it seems our situation conspired to keep us contained." She indicated Metis. "And this is the source of all our problems."

"We're waiting for Aigis to wake up," Midori offered. "Metis seemed focused on her, so maybe there's some answers there."

"This.. this! ARGH!" Yukari raised her voice in frustration, "THIS IS NOT RIGHT!" She ignored Metis to head for the couch, where she sat down in a huff. "Someone fix this so I can get on with my life!"

"We are working on it, Yukari. Your assistance would be appreciated." Mitsuru tried to be diplomatic. "With you here, I can issue your Evoker back to you, and we can begin preliminary exploration of the new region under the dining room."

"No."

"I'm sorry?" Midori found it almost funny how Mitsuru just couldn't understand people refusing her outright. She was so used to people agreeing with her or negotiating that such plain language was outside of her personal context. "I had thought you would provide assistance."

"Well I'm not. I don't want my damned Evoker. Besides, what use would it be? Only Midori can do her thing outside the Dark Hour."

"Hey!" Midori took the slight personally. "Shut up and listen! This is like the Dark Hour! I had Frosty running for hours since yesterday, way more than what I can do in the human world. We are all stuck in this together, and we need to work, all of us, in getting out!"

Yukari was stunned at the outburst. But her resolve was firm. "No. I don't want a part of this any more."

"Komaki, Yoshino, Akihiko, Amada. I'm tasking the four of you to make a preliminary search of the grounds at the bottom of the stairs. Yamagishi will provide support from up here as well as keeping an eye on Aigis." Mitsuru started to issue order. "Koro-chan and I will stay up here with Yukari and Metis in case the situation changes." She regretted sending them away, but needed them out of any potential conversation she might have with Yukari. Komaki was too much of a firebrand, Akihiko had his pride while Yoshino and Amada would only prove to be a distraction.

It wasn't the best solution, but it was the only one she could work in with such short preparation time. The others seemed momentarily confused by the change in priorities, but thankfully the more astute amongst them realized the necessity of the change in plans and moved to support her. She felt good to have such a supportive group at her command.

But it would all mean nothing if she couldn't use her leadership abilities to their fullest. And that meant convincing Yukari to assist in the investigation and resolution of their situation.

**?, ?, ?**

**Underneath the Minatodai Dorm**

**Afternoon**

"Everyone have their equipment?" Akihiko asked of the others as they stood at the head of the stairs. They nodded, although Midori was the only one who was actually looking forward to using her weapon. "Midori, you go first. It's not much, but you've been down there before. I'll be right behind you with Ken and Chidori taking up the rear."

"Alright," she chirped as she hopped down the first few steps, leaning down to get a better look at things, "but I still see nothing."

The rest came down behind her. "Good luck" Fuuka said from the safety of the Dorm.

Midori hit the ground first, her impact making no dent in what looked and felt like sand. Looking at her feet, she realized that there was no indication that Metis had landed here earlier. Around them were the ring of doors, and she realized that some of them were set back a couple paces from the others.

"Spread out," Akihiko said, "check the doors and behind the stairs."

A round of affirmations came back and they spread themselves out a little. Midori made a straight line for the nearest door. It was white with a twisting pattern in black inlaid into it. There was no handle on it, and on a hunch, went around the other side. Nothing. It was blank. Back around front she put a hand to the door and pushed, but like every other door, it refused to budge.

So she took a couple steps back and charged it. Her shoulder slam cracked hard against the unyielding edifice, causing everyone to look at her. "Try again!" She backed up again and this time performed a running kick. "Bah! FROSTY!"

A moment later, a series of magical flames and shards of ice failed to do what brute force did either. "Open!"

"There's nothing back there" Ken said as he came back from behind the stairs. "There's just these doors."

"One for every person in the Dorm." Chidori qualified. "Each having a unique design."

Akihiko did a quick count. "There's one more."

"I counted one for our robot guest." Chidori added. "I suspect that once Midori forces a door open, we will be exploring each in detail."

"Any luck there, Midori?" Akihiko asked as she tried something different – hitting the door from behind.

"I'll get it eventually!"

He sighed. Trusting in her enthusiasm to find a way if it was possible, he moved to climb back up. "Chidori, Ken? Could you two wait here? I'm going to report our failure to Mitsuru. Let me know if she actually accomplishes anything." With a casual gesture to Midori, he ascended the stairs.

**3****rd**** Floor Lounge**

**Evening**

Midori grumbled as she sipped her lukewarm water. She couldn't open a single door, and Aigis was still asleep and they were all still trapped.

Of course, now that Yukari was with them, that meant she couldn't sleep in her room again. And hers was still empty.

Speaking of, Yukari came up and grabbed a seat across from her. "Hey," she said.

"Hello."

"Sorry if it felt like I was taking some of my frustrations out on you." The brunette apologized carefully.

"Huh?" Midori didn't seem to hear it. "You were mean to me?"

Yukari mentally rolled her eyes at Midori's some-times innocence. How she could focus on one thing completely for one moment, then shrug things off the next never ceased to confound her. And here she was, trying to be nice! "Maybe. That's why I was apologizing."

"Apology accepted. But for what it's worth, I think you weren't." Midori looked down the hall at Aigis' room. "Maybe I could sleep on the chair she has in there."

"You don't have a bed?"

"I used the spare futon in your room last night."

"Wow. I mean, I would have thought your room would be intact. Did you pack _everything_ up for your move?"

"No! Wait. Did Mitsuru tell you about the weird date thing going on?"

"Yes. I don't believe it."

"Well, we'll see. If tomorrow is today, like it was yesterday for me, then will you believe me?"

"Something like that." Yukari rose. "For what it's worth, it was good to see you again. I'm going to go to bed now, and I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight."

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dormitory, 1st Floor Lounge**

**Morning**

"_I slept on the couch._" Midori thought to herself as she pulled herself into wakefulness. Remembering that her attempt to sleep in Aigis' room had failed with the sheer uncomfortable nature of the reclining chair for long-term napping.

Groaning, she reached out to grab her glasses. She remembered something about putting them down there last night while others took their turns guarding Metis. Someone leaned over and grabbed them and put them into her hand. "Thank you" she muttered as she pulled them on. She then pulled them right back off. "I gotta clean them."

"That would be prudent." Aigis said.

"I..! AIGIS!" Midori jumped up and through unfocused eyes saw that indeed the blond robot was standing there. "You're awake!" She punctuated that statement with a large hug that bordered on the uncomfortable for her as she pressed against the hard armoured shell. "Wait! When did you?"

"A couple hours ago," Fuuka explained from where she sat on the other couch. "We didn't want to wake you at the time."

"You should have!" Midori accused, annoyed at not being there when her friend came back to the realm of the waking. Releasing Aigis, she yawned without meaning too and sat back down. "So, is it April yet?"

"No." Aigis confirmed. "I find the temporal loop odd."

"Tell me about it. It's our third day in here then."

"Actually, now that you are awake, we can advance with our plans." Mitsuru announced, startling Midori with her unexpected presence. Pulling on her glasses anyways, she looked around and realized that everyone was present in the room.

"Were you all just watching me sleep?" Midori asked with a very flat tone of voice, her hand edging dangerously towards Frosty's card. "Seriously?"

"Nothing like that!" Ken immediately lept to their defence. "It's just that Mitsuru said that we weren't on an immediate time crunch, so we didn't need to wake you."

Composing herself, Midori sat down on the couch behind her. She was pleased when Aigis took a spot beside her and after a moment's politeness, Akihiko ceded the last spot to Chidori. "So, I'm awake. Now what?"

"You release me."

Midori spun towards the voice, having forgotten in the time since her arrival what Metis sounded like.

"I see no reason too." Aigis countered quickly. "You brought harm to my friends." She picked up the butterfly faceplate from the table where it had lain all this time. "Your origin and your relation to our predicament mean that we cannot remove those restraints at this time."

"You know that is irrelevant."

"What does she mean, Aigis?" Mitsuru asked.

"The chains would not hold me. Therefore, they will not hold her." Aigis announced plainly.

"WHAT!" Akihiko was instantly on high alert as Metis flexed her arms, causing the chains that bound her to crack and fall off. "Get ready!"

"That will not be necessary." Aigis said again. "She will not attack us. If she had wanted to, she would have done so already." She, however, did not relax. "Now, identify yourself and your goals properly."

"I'm Metis." Midori caught that this Metis, now that she was speaking calmly, had a voice that was a lot more fluid and, well, human-like than Aigis'. "As you can see, you and are are practically siblings, sisters. It is my purpose to save you, my only sister, from this impossible situation."

"Impossible is right," Yukari griped. "I mean, the TV said it was yesterday today, and apparently it's even more than that for other people."

"I was made aware of our situation, Yukari." Aigis admonished the interruption gently. "You are also currently recovering from your use of your version of Orgia mode. What do you know about the region that is currently located beneath the Dorm?"

"It is called _The Abyss of Time_," Metis answered smoothly. "It is the cause of the space-time distortion that locks you all in place. It would be better if I showed you."

"I have already seen it, and we have sent a scouting party into it." Midori was proud that her efforts got mentioned.

"But you did not know that its existence is tied to the existences in the Minatodai Dormitory. The only way to escape the temporal loop it to eliminate the Abyss. Hence, eliminate the residents of the Dorm."

Metis' announcement brought a large round of angry accusations and recriminations. For Midori, so soon after waking, it was too much, and so she raised her voice to a scream; "SHUT UP EVERYONE!"

The outburst brought a cough to her throat. "No one is hurting anyone," she rasped, "not any more." She looked to Aigis and Mitsuru to yield the floor from her yell.

"Thank you, Komaki." Mitsuru redirected her attention back to Metis. "I presume there is an alternative?"

"Yes. Locate the source of the Abyss within it, and eliminate that." The black-hued robot replied. "I do not know how."

"This is starting to sound ridiculous." Chidori interjected into a moment of silence. "What do you get out of all of this? You are trapped with us."

"I am not _in this_ for myself! This is all for my Sister!" Metis defended herself vehemently. "She is in danger, and I must protect her!"

"And yet," Mitsuru coldly countered, "your statements do not fit the facts. Aigis is the only active member of her series; there is no mention of a _Metis_ in the production schedule. All units from Labrys to Aigis are accounted for. You also speak with familiarity regarding this _Abyss of Time_. Your existence is unaccountable."

Midori also saw something that could be used to prove that Metis wasn't who she said she was, but she held her tongue.

"Sister! I am telling you all the truth!" Metis started pleading, her expression one of fear. "You have to trust me! You have to believe me!"

"_Belief_ and _Trust_" Aigis nearly growled, "do not enter into my decision making process. What I do know is that you are connected to the Abyss and therefore it is possible that you are the source of this disturbance." Aigis advanced towards Metis, who seemed to lose her composure.

"No! No! I'm not the problem!" Metis defended herself as Aigis quickly and inexorably got up and into her face. "Please! Believe me! I only want to help!"

For a long moment, Aigis stared into the eyes of her so-called sister.

"I do."


	9. The Abyss of Time (3)

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dormitory, 1st Floor Lounge**

**Morning**

With the issue of 'trust' being decided by Aigis' fiat, everyone started to work at making headway into how to deal with the Abyss that had entrapped them. Well, for the most part. Midori made her excuses and went to get herself something to eat. She didn't feel like going down into the Abyss on an empty stomach.

She was surprised when Aigis followed her, along with Metis. "Um," she said as she reached the fridge. "Do you want anything, Metis? I mean, Aigis doesn't eat really, so I mean, I don't know if you're different from her in that regard?"

"No, I don't. I share power production capacities with my sister." Metis responded factually. "I'm staying with her for now as it seems to put everyone else at ease."

Midori ran this through her head and accepted the explanation. She turned back to the fridge. "Then what did you need, Aigis?"

"I talked with Igor while I was... asleep." Aigis stated flatly. "He said that I can talk to you about certain things."

Midori paused with her hand on the handle to the fridge. She wanted to open it up and find something to eat, but the mention of Igor made her stop. "Oh? And who was his assistant?"

"Elizabeth," Aigis answered. "I wanted to talk to you because only you and Minato had met with him before, and he suggested I talk to you about things he couldn't explain about my new power."

"I'm not a wild card," Midori replied. "It's not like I had experience with Persona Fusion or things like that."

"I understand."

Then Midori realized what logic Aigis was talking about. "Wait! You have Minato's power now?" She sun around, hunger forgotten as she confronted Aigis. "But you...! I mean...!

"Yes. I can no longer access my Orgia Mode in exchange for the ability to switch Personas."

"..." Midori tried to figure out how that worked. A couple theories ran into her head, then ran out just as fast, never giving her a chance to think more than blink on it. "How does that work?"

"I do not know." She turned to look at Metis, who was poking at one of the kitchen appliances with a curious finger. "I suspect our situation demanded it."

"Then what did you want to talk about? I mean, I don't know what to talk about." Midori started to trip over herself by being put on the spot like that. Realizing that she shouldn't be standing for this, she found a stool and sat down.

"..." Aigis opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it right away. "I'm not sure myself. Igor-san told me that I could talk to you, and now I find myself not knowing where to begin."

"Maybe you can start with the why?" Metis offered as she flicked the switches of the mixer, even though it wasn't plugged in. "Also, Sister told everyone else about about her new powers, so you're not keeping any secrets."

"That's.. nice." Midori still didn't know how to treat Metis. She agreed with Mitsuru that there were too many things off about her, but she had to trust Aigis in this regard. Besides, if things turned bad, there was everyone else with their Evokers to help out now.

An uncomfortable silence fell across the room. "So, how it Igor?" Midori finally said.

"Quite mysterious." Aigis said. "I can understand now why you and Minato were so elusive in talking about him."

"And Elizabeth?"

"I cannot tell. She was very businesslike."

"Did they mention Theodore?"

Aigis paused. "No. Who is he?"

"He's an other assistant to Igor, like Elizabeth." Midori explained. "So, what did he tell you?"

"He said I was an interesting guest, and that he would be able to fuse Personas for me." Aigis quickly moved to express her confusion. "When I look in myself, I see Orpheus, not Pallas Athena. How do I develop more of these Personas? How did Minato do it?"

Midori bought new Demons from the Auction house. She knew it wasn't the same with Minato, nor it seems, with Aigis. "I don't know. I mean, he usually found news ones, or displayed them after a fight with Shadows. Sometimes he'd talk to Igor. I remember him mentioning something about a book with all sorts of Personas in it. A...compendium of sorts?"

Aigis nodded. "I have observed similarly. You suggest that when we enter the Abyss, I can use combat to attain more Personas?"

Midori honestly had no clue. "Probably? Only one way to find out. Unless you have some insight, Metis?"

"No. I don't know much about my Sister's new power" Metis admitted. "Although she did loose access to her Orgia Mode in the process, so perhaps the two are exclusive?"

"Maybe." Aigis and Midori both agreed in principle. "Although there is no proof of that. You _did_ damage me."

"I'm so sorry Sister! I didn't mean to!" Metis bowed very deeply in apology, causing Midori a pang of jealousy that she wished she could bend like that. It would make playing tennis so much easier.

A thought came to Midori as she forced her self to go over everything that Minato had told her about the Velvet Room and its residents. "Do you have a key? A Velvet Key?"

Aigis seemed taken aback. "I... I know I have one. But I cannot say where it is. That is confusing..."

Midori sighed in relief. "Don't worry about that. It's not an actual key. It's like a permission to enter the Velvet Room." Then the logic of the situation hit her, and her relief fled. "But the only two places I know to get in there are in the Lobby of Tartarus and the back hall of Paulowina, you know the one headed to the washrooms?"

Aigis nodded, piecing together the information in her own mind. "But I do not have access to either of those locations."

"Maybe there's an entrance to this Velvet Room in the Abyss then?" Metis offered without fully understanding what her sister and her friend were talking about. "If you can't access Tartarus, then it would be logical to presume that there is a replacement downstairs?"

The others silently considered this. "There is a logic to that." Aigis finally had to admit. "What does this entrance look like?" she asked Midroi.

"I don't know!" came the admission. "Minato said it was like a purple door, but only those with a Key could actually see and interact with it. When I talked to Igor both times, he had to lead me to it and let me in."

"Then we should look in the Abyss." Aigis said as she stood up. "Will you come with me?"

Midori's stomach growled. "Let me get some food first."

"Of course." Aigis, now with a clear purpose, made her way back towards the lounge. "Don't worry, I won't go without you."

A couple minutes later, Midori came out of the kitchen with a worried look on her face. "We're out of food!"

**The Abyss of Time**

**Daytime**

Midori wasn't happy, but there was nothing to be done. With very little food left in storage, Mitsuru had instituted rationing. At Aigis' suggestion, and with Metis' support, they had organized one more exploration party into the Abyss.

"It is connected to my Sister," Metis had tried to explain. "It binds her here. She can explore it to remove those bindings."

"That sounds very convenient," Chidori complained, with Yukari echoing that sentiment. "So, this entrapped her, and the rest of us are collateral? That's almost insulting."

"Be that as it may, we now have a line of advance to resolve this situation." Mitsuru had looked at the assembled group. Aigis, I want you to take at least Midori and Metis into the Abyss, I'm placing you in charge of the exploration of the Abyss. Your altered powers should give you an advantage in dealing with whatever we find down there. Metis goes with you as I don't want her out of your sight, while Midori can support you."

Midori felt like Mitsuru hadn't finished her explanation while Aigis asked for Fuuka and Akihiko's support. They had readily agreed, and Mitsuru had made sure everyone else was on standby, or doing other work around the dorm.

They made their way down the stairs, this time Aigis in the lead. When they reached the bottom, a couple changes were apparent.

First, one of the doorways was surrounded by a slight glow, almost as if saying 'come to me'. Second was the humanoid shadow that stood in the epicentre of the ring of doors. Before anyone could challenge it, it ran off, through the lit doorway.

"I think we have our first objective," Akihiko snarked slightly. "Fuuka, did you happen to get a scan of that thing?"

"No! It was gone to fast." The petite girl apologized. "I couldn't activate Lucia.. er Juno, or... in time."

"It's alright." Akihiko said. "It was gone pretty fast. Are you going to stay here, or follow us?"

In response, Fuuka pulled out her Evoker and found a spot on the ground to summon Lucia. "I think we should behave like this was Tartarus, and this is the Lobby. Allow me to attempt to scan ahead."

As Fuuka and her Persona did their thing, Akihiko examined his own evoker. "I suppose I should check out Ceaser too," he commented as he readied the weapon against himself, "just in case it's fallen behind like Juno did into Lucia."

He pulled the trigger, and the familiar Persona came into view before vanishing just as quickly. "Well?" Midori asked hopefully.

"Feels rusty," Akihiko admitted, no shame in his voice. "I suppose not using ones Persona for a couple months can do that to a person." He looked at Midori. "That you've been able to practice with Black Frost in that time is a huge advantage."

Midori shook her head, not certain about how much of one she really had. "I don't know. I mean, I didn't actually, you know, _do_ anything with him, and I've been practising better power control in summoning him. When I fought Metis, he didn't have all his full-power abilities." Her own confession brought a thoughtful look to Akihiko's face.

"Well, I think the only thing we can do is practice." He smiled at her. "And if you were able to keep up your work like that, I have no doubt as to your abilities."

Unable to suppress the blush that crawled up her face, Midori spun around hard to hide herself. "I'm not one of your fangirls, Sensei," she proclaimed. "You don't have to compliment me like that!" She may not _like_ Akihiko-sensei like that, but even she still reacted when he turned on the charm.

He laughed a polite little laugh. "Sorry. Didn't meant to do that."

Fuuka groaned in annoyance as she dismissed her Persona. "I can't tell what's behind the other doors, but the one that the black thing went through – there are Shadows behind it." She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "It's like, I don't know, something's wrong. It's a twisty path that I lose track of, but it seems so straight. It's not like Tartarus at all."

"The only way to advance is to go forward." Metis announced solidly.

"I did catch a name though," Fuuka said. "The place behind that door is called Malebolge."

"Ma-re-bohr-ge?" Midori tripped over the pronunciation hard.

"Malebolge," Aigis clarified, "Is the eight circle of the Christian Hell as defined by the author Dante."

"Oh, that's just cheery." Midori replied. Then remembering that Black Frost was from 'Hell', she realized that it couldn't be that bad of a place after all. "Shall we?"

**?, ?, ?**

**Malebolge, The Abyss of Time**

**Daytime**

Aigis approached the door that the shadow had gone through a few moments earlier, hand outstretched. She touched the gilded ivory door and it swung open at the connection. "Great. I beat the thing all day and nothing happens. You push it open with a finger. Where's the justice in that?"

Metis raised one eyebrow. "You act as though you're important. Sister is the one for whom this place exists."

"That's quite insulting, considering I'm Aigis's friend."

"Enough, both of you." Aigis shut the impending argument down before it could interfere with possible combat.

"Yes, Aigis." "Yes, Sister."

They stepped through the door, and found themselves in a strange corridor. The red-hued floor was covered by a grey carpet, while the white walls seemed to be perpetually on the edge of falling off. "Fuuka, can you hear me?" Aigis asked into the air, hoping for a positive response.

"Yes, I can." The response echoed in the air around them. "I can definitely sense the shadows ahead of you, but other than that... I'm sorry."

"And just like that, we're back in Tartarus. Only way we can go is forward. Not backwards." Akihiko said from the back. "There's no doorway back to the Abyss."

As one, the rest of the group spun around to confirm that yes, they were trapped. "Then we shall proceed forward," Aigis said, the slightest annoyance in her voice. She wasn't annoyed with the banter around her, but with the lack of a safe retreat in case things went sour.

She recognized that when Mitsuru forced Midori into the first team to enter the Abyss proper, it was because Midori was the only one to have absolute command over her Persona. No matter how esoteric it may be, it was the only logical precaution. Akihiko had reported some problems with Ceaser while Fuuka had a downgrade in her strengths. Metis was still an unknown, despite all protestations from her to the contrary and her own wildly divergent power set made her unwilling to put her absolute faith in it.

No, it was best, Aigis considered, that this was the team she had to work with.

As they advanced further into Malebolge, Fuuka warned them from the Abyss of the nearby presence of shadows. "Midori, you and Frosty on point" Aigis said carefully, putting their currently strongest member in the position of most danger.

Persona out, Midori carefully turned the corner into one of the rooms that pock-marked the current floor before jumping back. "Gold Hand!" she announced with a whisper, causing Aigis and Akihiko to bristle with anticipation. "Aigis, you got those gun hands. You start the fight."

Nodding, Aigis made sure everyone had their weapons at the ready, then jumped around the corner while firing.

Midori let loose a sigh of joy. They had completely ambushed the valuable and rare hand, and had just as quickly put it down thanks to a lucky critical hit from Metis. "A nice start," she said, "I just hope the rest of them go as easy."

"Don't expect it, Midori." Akihiko warned as he reset his gloves. "And what's that buzzing?"

Suddenly aware of the source of the noise, Midori pulled her COMP out of her uniform jacket. Flipping it open, she found she had an e-mail waiting for her. "It's from Atsuro-san," she said at the unspoken questions. "He's had a look at the Babel server, and it seems like there's nothing wrong with it on the outside." She looked up. "Should I tell him I'm caught in a time loop and therefore going to be doing weird things today?"

"NO!" Somehow even Fuuka's cry came at the same time as the others. "Why would you do that?"

"Because if we're repeating things and my COMP is our only connection outside, we may be able to use it to get supplies delivered, or someone else in the know to poke at the dorm from the outside?" Midori rattled off a quick justification for her actions, surprising herself in retrospect that they actually made some sort of sense.

"I say we wait until we get back to the Dorm and confer with Mitsuru. She should know who to contact." Akihiko offered firmly. "That we can send and receive messages from the outside, no matter how limited is a great help."

Midori brightened up. "Will do!" She threw a quick cute salute from one show or another, only to watch the gesture go completely over everyone elses' heads. "You really need to watch more TV. All of you."

"Can we get back to the exploration now?" Aigis asked as rhetorically as she could muster while behind her, Metis curiously duplicated Midori's salute, a fact she filed away for later. She would have to show the black-armoured robot how to do it properly.

Going down a couple levels further into Malebolge, Aigis began to worry. It wasn't worry per se, but every time she tried to analyze their situation, she found herself trying to compare it to Tartarus. Or trying to figure out where additional supplies could be acquired. Or keeping an eye out for an unfamiliar purple door.

She was, she finally concluded as they bashed their way through another group of Shadows, Akihiko taking time to heal Midori and himself, she was mostly worried about being distracted.

So many things had happened in such a short period of time. Not only had her decisions had an unexpectedly negative impact on her fellows, but the whole issue with the Abyss and Metis only prevented her from working towards a solution.

As much as it galled her, Aigis had to admit she was bad at that sort of multitasking. The others were all trying to help in their own way, but things were not going to be easy.

Another cause for her concern was that Mitsuru had made her leader based solely on the existence of the Wild Card. The logic was odd, if understandable at all. It would have been more appropriate if she had taken the lead directly, or perhaps Akihiko. But instead she had allocated those responsibilities to her.

It was confusing. Enough that she wished she could abandon her responsibilities. But she could not. It would be a betrayal of her core essence. She would have to trust in those around her to give her the right options, to support her in her role as leader.

Another fight, and she felt something change in her.

"Midori?"

"Yes?" The girl was busy checking kneeling and checking over her Persona for blemishes from the battle. The latest shadows were capable of exploiting her elemental weakness, so she had spent most of it on the defensive.

"I think I have an additional option over Orpheus now" Aigis announced calmly.

"Really? That's great, Sister!" Metis immediately congratulated Aigis without knowing the full extent of what it meant while Midori and Akihiko took a more serious response.

"Switch them." Midori commanded, a sudden barked word that seemed to take herself by surprise if the shocked expression in her eyes and the clamping of her mouth shut was any indication. "Sorry!" she managed to say through her fingers before taking a deep breath to steady herself. "I mean, please? If you can, then you'll be closer to understanding what happened to you."

It was a reasonable request, but Aigis had one simple counter. "How?"

This put Midori on the spot. Being the supposed 'expert' on the Wild Card, Aigis was looking to her for help and guidance. So she grasped at straws. "Well, Personas have a Tarot motif, right? Minato was the Fool, I'm the Moon, Akihiko is Emperor. So what if this is like shuffling a deck of cards and drawing one off the top, except you know what cards are where and can shuffle whatever one you want to the top?"

Aigis seemed to consider this for a moment before closing her eyes. "Sister?" Metis asked, worriedly as Aigis stood perfectly still. Then she opened her eyes with a slightly confused look in them.

"I think I have done it. Legion?"

Akihiko spoke up after keeping his own opinions quiet. "You mean that bulbous thing that's supposed to command several thousand demonic troops?"

Midori was very glad that every demonic Legion she had fought never had a force that big at their command. It would have been annoying beating them all up. Several times over. "This just means we have to get into a fight to see if it worked!" Cheering up at the thought, she skipped over to Aigis, grabbed her arm, and started to drag her off further into the dungeon. "And once we've proven that, we'll have you gaining and fusing Personas like a pro in no time!"


	10. The Abyss of Time (4)

**?, ?, ?**

**Malebolge, The Abyss of Time**

**Daytime**

"Careful!" Fuuka alerted the exploration team as they descended another floor. "I sense a powerful shadow ahead."

"A floor guardian?" Aigis made a guess as to the nature of the enemy before them. "Or is the black shadow we are chasing?"

"It feels like a Guardian." Fuuka reported carefully. Midori could almost see her scrunching up her face in concentration to try and divine even one more iota of information about what lay ahead of them. "I cannot detect the other shadow yet. Keep looking! I know you can find it!" She said encouragingly.

Now on their guard, Metis quietly asked Aigis about the existence of these Floor Guardians, and Aigis explained to her how there were certain shadows that seemed bound to locations as choke points, and they needed to be bested to proceed. Metis nodded in understanding and reaffirmed her support of her sister in that cheery voice of hers.

From there, it was a short walk to the room where the guardians waited. And the Black human-shaped shadow waited behind them passively.

"Halt!" Aigis yelled out past the Shadows, trying to command the unknown entity to submit. It stayed still, but turned away from the four as the Shadows advanced on them. "Do not flee!"

"Aigis, focus on the enemies!" Akihiko warned as a Gigas-type and a trio of Mayas charged at them.

"Agialo!" Midori yelled, as she reacted faster. A wash of flame ripped across a Maya and sensing that it was weak to the flames promptly inundated the rest in roaring flames only to be brought up short by the Gigas itself. "Heh. Play nice?" She asked worriedly as it swept its arms around, knocking her back against the wall. The shock of the hit and followup impact rattled her, and Frosty lost cohesion.

"Midori's down!" Akihiko called out as Aigis followed on Midori's example and switched to Orpheus and it's Agi skill to fight the Maya while Metis went to work on the Gigas, matching strength for strength without yet using her Orgia mode. Akihiko rushed back to Midori and gave her a quick check, then sent a jolt of healing magic through her to try and get her back up and active. It wasn't much and she groggily waved him off to help in the fight.

A few minutes later, they stood over the vanishing remains of their fallen foes, Akihiko looking worried. "Midori, are you alright? You're not standing straight."

"I'll be fine," Midori took a deep breath. "Just gotta get back into shape."

"You're not fine." Aigis declared. "We need to get you back to the dorm. You are not the toughest person on the team, and I do not want you permanently injured."

"I agree with Sister. Your weakness should not be allowed to hinder Sister." Metis chimed in, her cheerful voice contrasting the meaning of her words. The vicious glares that were fired back at her seemed to confuse the ebony robot. "Did I say something wrong, Sister?"

"I can walk." Midori shifted her attention from Metis to Akihiko, who was still fussing over her. Standing, she did lean against the wall to steady herself for a moment before completely regaining herself. "See? Just like normal?" Her assurances didn't seem to convince Akihiko.

"I don't detect that Black Shadow any more," Fuuka interjected. "It looks like it escaped while you were fighting the Guardian." She sounded apologetic, but also determined to make up for the loss. "I do detect what seems to be another door ahead though. Perhaps it went through there?"

"We shall investigate." Aigis, assured that everyone was ready and capable, led the group past the Guardian's lair and deeper into Malebolge. True to Fuuka's word, there was a door standing in the side of the hallway. "Odd. It appears to be identical to the one that let us enter in the first place."

"I can sense that it's not connected to the rest of Malebolge." Fukka announced in the backs of their heads. "But it does seem familiar."

"Perhaps it leads back to the Abyss?" Metis suggested, running one hand along the door frame. "It makes sense."

"No, it doesn't." Akihiko shot back. "Fuuka, I see a corridor ahead of us still. Does that lead further into this place?"

"Yes." The answer was quick and to the point. "I don't know where that door leads, but it doesn't go further. It will transport you some place else."

"Very well." Aigis pushed the door open and kept it that way, blinking at the change in the light. "Metis was correct. This is the Abyss."

They crowded around the door, careful not to cross the threshold. Indeed, they could see the familiar sight of the ring of doors before them, and the shadow cast by the stair leading back into the dorm crossing over them ever so slightly.

"FUUUUKKAA!" Midori promptly called out, waving to attract her attention. "We're behind you!"

Startled, the smaller girl dropped her Persona and spun around, surprised and confused. "What? Where did that door come from?" She looked behind her again to the entrance to Malebolge behind her then back to the quartet. "The door you found leads back here? Interesting."

Sensing that it was safe to do so, Aigis moved across the threshold, placing her feet on the still sands of the Abyss. "This is good. We can take a break and return to Malebolge when we are ready."

With this, everyone else joined her. The door behind them remained open thankfully, causing Metis to remark that "Returning will be a simple matter". But rather than that, Aigis decided to return to the Dorm to report to Mitsuru.

**1****st**** Floor Lounge, Minatodai Dorm**

**Daytime**

"I see." Mitsuru considered this new information as Aigis, with the help of Akihiko and Midori finished their report on their preliminary exploration. "It seems I was right in choosing you to lead as the doorways only respond to you." She paused to plan their next course of action. "Therefore I will make your appointment as head of the exploration group official. Do what you must."

Aigis nodded in acceptance. "I would like you and Ken to come with me for the next section of Malebolge. I intend to use this opportunity to make sure everyone is capable of wielding their Personas in combat as we go through the first few floors of Malebolge and come back out the waypoint now revealed to us."

"Then I shall wait for you downstairs, Sister." Metis announced cheerfully.

"No, you will stay here. I will keep Akihiko-san on the team." The denial was quick and pointed. It was a lash of the tongue that seemed out of place coming from Aigis.

"What!" The yell of reprisal was just as quick, and just as intense. "Why would you do that to me, Sister? I am here for you!"

"Your rude comment to Midori earlier caused me to evaluate your position as a 'team player'," Aigis countered, "and I cannot have someone who does not care for their fellows with me." The retort was enough to cause Koromaru to back away from the two robots and the intensity of the subtle conflict between. "My decision is final, or do you wish to challenge me?"

A moment's silence, then Metis backed down. "I will do as you say, Sister."

"Thank you. Midori-san, please recuperate quickly. I suspect I will have need of your strength in the future." Aigis nodded towards the sitting girl who smiled in return.

"Of course!"

"Just put an icepack on your head for now," Akihiko advised, "we have plenty of water and electricity, so the freezer should still work." He paused a moment before delivering his final warning. "Be extra careful. Concussions can have lasting effects, and I don't want you to suffer through them now while we need you."

Once Midori was settled down with a chill bag on her forehead, the reformed team left to practice and explore Malebolge some more. But before she left, Mitsuru addressed Yukari. "With Komaki recovering, Yukari, I'm leaving you in charge of the Dorm. I do not expect much in the way of difficulties," she cast a glance at Metis, who ignored the implication, "but if something comes up, tell Yamagishi and we will expedite our return."

They were quiet for the most part. Metis was, for the lack of a better word, sulking in one corner and muttering while Chidori and Koromaru sat together on the couch across from Yukari and Midori. Yukari looked and acted very pensive, tapping her foot against the floor in an erratic pattern.

"Could you stop that, please, Yukari?"

"Oh? Sorry Midori. Just... annoyed."

"We all are," Chodori chided Yukari from across the table. "But you are most reluctant to help out."

"Well excuse me for not wanting to jump right back into things! I'm not Midori here, to not bother with thinking things through."

"Hey! I'm right here!"

"Sorry, you know what I mean." Yukari tried to apologize, but it felt flat. "I tried to explain this to Mitsuru-senpai, but she couldn't understand. I don't _want_ to be here."

"I understand that," Midori said carefully as she didn't want to disturb the perfect balance she had acquired with her icepack. "You want him to be here, hoping that if he was, this never would have happened."

Yukari gaped. "Why..! What..? You...!"

"It's obvious," Midori said, "you're one those people that can't lead, can't take the initiative in a situation like this." For some reason she was reminded of Yuzu, back from Tokyo. "You depend on someone you to trust to provide leadership and you fixated on Minato for that."

"What are you saying?" Yukari made her demand harshly, drawing everyone's attention to her. "You can't just insult me like that!"

"I've seen it before." Midori countered. "And if Junpei – sorry Chidori – were here, I'm sure he'd be in agreement. You're just not the kind of person who takes kindly to stressful situations like this."

"Oh, and I suppose you are?" The come back was sharp.

Midori was sharper. "I ever tell you about the time people tried to burn be as a witch because of..." She couldn't say it was because she had summoned Demons (why oh why did she recruit Cait Siths from the Auction House?) "Because of Frosty" she lied.

A chill silence descended.

"Look," Midori tried to find some way to not alienate her off-again friend. "Because they did. And I had to stand for myself." She was also rescued by Abel and his friends, but she didn't need to say that. "And look at me now. I'm not afraid. You are. That's completely _normal_." She found that she was loosing track of her little speech and resolved to conclude it quickly lest it blow up in her face. "But these are not normal circumstances. We have to confront the abnormal here, in our home, before we can return to normality. So please, even if you're not going to stand and confront our problems head on, try to understand the desires of those who do."

Silence reigned across the Dorm after that. Midori refreshed her icepack without help, something which she doubted anyone in the dorm currently would have offered. She didn't blame any of them for that. Metis was in her own corner still sulking at Aigis' berating, Yukari was annoyed, Koromaru couldn't and it wasn't like Chidori to offer in the first place.

It also gave her a chance to cool off in a less physical sense from her speech. Running it back over her head, she came to the very annoying conclusion that she had botched it. Not in the emotional sense. She figured she had that down perfectly. But rather, she didn't say the right words.

It was infuriating to the self-styled magical girl of love and justice. She should be able to do these things properly! She even managed to make it work on Frosty, turning him from a cute and lovable Jack Frost into a cute, loveable, awesome Black Frost! Why was it so hard to work these things on people?

It was obvious that Yukari loved Minato, but from there, Midori was at a loss. She went over her objectives in her head again, only to come to the same conclusion which lead her to this problem in the first place. Love and Justice was a fine way to live, but it was hard to convince other people about it.

Fresh ice in hand, she wondered if they would be able to make shaved ice to munch on, although a quick check of the nearly-empty fridge revealed no sauce to go with the dessert. Returning to her spot on the couch, she waited in silence with the rest for Aigis to return.

The silence was quietly shattered when Midori's COMP started to hum. Startled by the unexpected noise, the icepack fell into her lap as she searched her new jacket for the device. Finding it, she flipped it open and saw that she had a new email. Curious, she scanned it over before looking at at people's confused looks. "That was a guy I know, Atsuro. He's on the outside, and says there's nothing wrong on his end, and he's asking me for more information."

"YOU CAN TALK OUTSIDE?" Yukari's yell rattled in Midori's head, threatening to undo all the work of the icepack. "Wait. This means we can leave!"

"If it could be that easy, I have no doubt that Mitsuru would have thought about it." Chidori said as she petting Koromaru back into relaxation after Yukari's outburst. "Have you decided to reply yet?"

"I'm not sure what to say" Midori confessed. "I mean, it's not like I can tell him everything that's going on."

"How is this even possible?" Metis spoke as she returned from her self-imposed exile. "This should not be possible."

Midori, wary of a possible complication, put one hand over her COMP protectively. "The Kirijo Group isn't the only one with access to technology that can work in errant space-time." At Metis' confused look, Midori sighed inwardly. "My COMP uses the same tech you do in order to work properly in the Dark Hour, and in the Abyss."

And with that, she had a burst of inspiration. All of a sudden, everything about Metis _made sense_. Her face lit up, causing no end of confusion from the other girls. "Oh! I get it!" She proudly announced as she pulled her COMP back to her. "I know what you are now. I can't wait to tell Mitsuru-senpai!"

Chidori narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Would you care to share your deduction, oh detective?"

"Nope!" Midori smirked as she felt so proud of herself. "Because I want to tell everyone at once!" It was a logical statement, though the others seemed doubtful of her sudden deductive prowess based on some form of circumstantial evidence. She didn't care.

It took almost another half-hour before Aigis returned. In that time, Midori had run over her line of thought over and over again, looking for problems and not finding any. This pleased her, that she could still contribute even when people over-reacted to being hurt.

When the five climbed up from the Abyss, she greeted them with the others. Amazingly, she managed to control herself long enough for everyone to settle down and relax before speaking. "Mitsuru-senpai," she said a bit stiffly, "while you were gone, I had an idea about Metis' origins."

The response was immediate. "Oh?" Mitsuru straightened up and recognized that Midori had said this while the mysterious robot was present, so she felt like it wasn't a threat. "What is your theory?"

"She was made by Naoya-san after he fixed Aigis." There, the statement was simple. Now for the hard part. "I got an e-mail back while you were in the Abyss, and Metis wanted to know how that was possible, so I told her that Dark Hour proofing technology wasn't in a monopoly from the Kirijo Group and it occurred to me that Naoya-san knew how it all worked and he may have done this to support Aigis but couldn't finish before Nyx came, and now, somehow, she is here!" The words poured out of her in a rush from all the time she had pent them up inside her.

Mitsuru's counter question was simple. "Evidence?"

"SHE HAS FEET!" Midori pointed triumphantly at the two robots standing side by side. "Aigis didn't have them before her fight with Ryoji, but Naoya-san added them when he fixed her up, and Metis has them too, so he must have built her after!"

Mitsuru looked thoughtful. "It would explain some things. But your theory does not account for how she came to be in the Dorm."

Aigis had turned to look at Metis in a new light. Instead of being a potential threat, Midori's theory, though woefully incomplete, had changed her opinion away from potential mysterious threat to the team to one of suddenly actually being the older model, and thus acting like a proper role model for the other Anti-Shadow Weapon. "But why continue construction after Nyx's defeat?" What went unsaid was that if Metis was complete before the end of January, why she was not deployed?

"Actually, this may be more base speculation, but I have an idea." Akihiko announced as he finished a glass of water. "We're caught in a time loop, correct?"

"Correct." Metis stated, still unsure about the nature of this conversation. She was who she was, simple as that. Why did people have to make things complicated? But she didn't raise the question, as this was all important to her Sister to see that she was there to help, not hinder.

"Well," Akihiko said, "it is possible that the night that Metis arrived was not the first loop." At the confused looks, he continued. "We honestly don't know how many times the Loop has occurred as we only started to remember things when Metis showed up. Even Midori's COMP still registers it as the last day of March. If that man was aware of the problem, he could have built Metis to help us out." He gestured to the black robot, "It would explain why she knows these things. She was programmed with that knowledge, and her entrance into the Dorm allowed the rest of us to become aware of the problem."

A stunned silence at the implications crossed the room. The enormity of the problems before them seemed too much to intellectually grasp. "The logic is... reasonable" Aigis finally spoke. "What do you have to say, Metis?"

"I know that I was made for you, Sister, and that I know what must be done to escape this place." The reply was quick and cheerful against the dreary atmosphere of the Dorm.

"She's right!" Midori spoke her agreement. "Aigis, you gotta grab Chidori, Yukari and Koro-chan and give them the warm up tour, then we can blast through the Abyss and get out of here!"

Yukari opened her mouth to object to being forced into this, but the reality was there. She couldn't get out of this without helping and being helped by everyone else. She may not understand everything that was being said, but it was the only way. "Fine. But I left my bow at home."

"We still have some of your equipment, Yukari." Mitsuru calmly admitted. "They are in my office. Yoshino, could you go with her, and make sure you and Koro-chan are all properly equipped?"

"Of course." The three of them made their way up the stairs in silence.

As they were leaving, Mitsuru turned to Midori. "You did well in figuring that out, Komaki. It is a great relief to have a solid theory to work with, rather than random ideas."

"You're welcome."

"Now that that is out of the way," Mitsuru's voice took on a shade of annoyance, "what is this about an e-mailed response?"

Midori quickly explained the reply she had gotten to her message, about how it looked like nothing was wrong outside the Dorm.

"And were does this man live?" Mitsuru's eyes showed she had a plan.

"Tokyo. Exactly where, I don't know. Not inside the Yamanote Circle." Midori tried to remember just what she knew about the people she had fought with that week, and realized that she hadn't really had a chance to properly connect to them at all. Certainly, they had the shared experiences of fighting the Bels, but as people? She had to leave so soon after the Lockdown was lifted, and her e-mails were few and far between.

She cursed herself for her failure as a human being, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

"Komaki, do you think Atsuro-san would object to helping us?"

"What do you mean? I don't know if he can get to here from Tokyo before midnight."

"Not what I was planning. Rather, you have in your possession our only reliable means of communication outside the Dorm, so with that in mind, I would like to use him to relay messages for us." She frowned. "The Kirijo Group has procedures in place for non-standard communications, and as such, I can give him some codes to use to get my people moving. They would, of course, expire tomorrow, but as that day is some time away, I think it will be acceptable."

Midori hadn't even thought of that. "Of course!" She whipped out her COMP and opened up the e-mail app. "What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing today," Mitsuru said, causing Midori to blink in confusion. "I need some time to compose my commands properly for your transcription, and it would be better if the message was sent in the morning, relatively speaking. It is already late afternoon now, and I want to maximize the response time on the outside."

That made sense, and Midori put her precious device away. "I'll have to remember to charge it tonight" she muttered.

Chidori and the others returned at that moment, and they descended into the Abyss with Aigis and Fuuka.

Mitsuru excused herself and headed for her office to begin her work while Akihiko, Ken and Metis joined Midori in sitting around the table.

"I wish we had a deck of cards" Ken finally complained.


	11. The Abyss of Time (5)

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dorm, 1st Floor Lounge**

**Daytime**

"Go fish."

Ken reached out and ran his finger over the outstretched cards in Midori's hand. Starting intently into her eyes, he tried to read which card was which by the reflection in her glasses and the way she held her gaze. It didn't help as all he could see was the slight reflection of Metis watching the both of them by leaning over between the two players.

Apparently the robot had never heard of the game, and was learning how by watching the two of them go at it. They had tried to get Akihiko to join in, but he declined as he said he wanted to talk with Mitsuru in private a bit first.

That left the two of them to keep Metis entertained. They had first tried something a bit more complicated, but the poor girl had problems keeping up with the non-math parts of the game, so Ken and her decided to start simple.

Ken pulled out a card at random and plopped a pair of aces on the table between them. "Not what I wanted" he sadly announced.

Smirking, Midori now knew which cards in his hand were which and used it to clean out the game. With her first victory in a long time now to her name, she set about reshuffling the deck.

"Why do you not enter some form of standby mode while waiting for Sister to return?" Metis asked as Midori now dealt three hands worth of cards. Ken looked at Midori to give an answer as he had unofficially allowed Midori to be Metis' babysitter due to the lack of more mature options.

"Human's don't do a 'standby' as you and Aigis do," she tried to explain as she would to a child, being calm and using simple words. "We do sleep, but that's like when you shut down for the night for maintenance." She paused to let Metis draw a card from her hand. "It's just convenient for everyone to do so all at once, rather than have people awake or asleep all at different times."

"Yet why did Sister let you stay in standby for a longer period of time?"

"Huh?"

"She meant, why Aigis let you sleep in" Ken clarified.

"Oh. Um." Midori searched for an answer that would satisfy the robot.

"Because Midori is more intense in her activities, and as such, requires a little more rest than the rest of us to keep pace." Akihiko came to her rescue as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Can you deal me in?"

"Sure, next game."

As the three played, Midori felt compelled to ask, "Is Mitsuru still working on that message?"

"Yes, she is." Akihiko admitted. "She wanted to make it perfect, so she's racking her brain how to best compose it." He shook his head sadly. "She'll need a break eventually."

"Actually, I have a question for Metis." Ken hesitantly put forward as they played some more. "What is your Arcana?"

Metis seemed surprised at the question. "Heirophant. Why do you ask?"

"Well," Ken began, "I was wondering about Aigis. I know she joined SEES as Chariot, became Aeon after Naoya-san healed her, and if she's the Wild Card now, does that make a the Fool?"

Midori and Akihiko considered this line of reasoning in their own way. "That's not impossible," Akihiko admitted as the game finished and the cards were passed for him to shuffle and deal. "We don't have the capacity to check that at the moment, but"

"But that assumes that the Fool and the Wild Card are intrinsically linked." Midori finished off. "And that doesn't explain how Aigis was able to go there in the first place."

"Because Sister is special!" Metis made this declaration with pride.

"There is another option. Minato could have passed that power to her after he defeated Ryoji." Akihiko looked at his hand, but kept his best poker face on.

"Right! Ryoji did say things to Aigis in that butterfly place after the fight, right? Was this what he meant?" Ken glowered at his options.

"But that doesn't mean that her Arcana is Fool. It's quite possible for a person and her Persona to be two different Arcana." Midori pointed to herself as the example. "Frosty is the Fool, but I'm the Moon, right?"

"And I have a lot of qualities of both Emperor and Star," Akihiko pointed out, "but Caesar is Emperor, so I was slotted into that." He paused. "What if that was a mistake, and I, personally, am of the Star Arcana, and like Midori, have a Persona that is different?"

"It's possible." Metis admitted as she tried to figure out what to do with her own cards.

"You know, I never understood what that was all about. I mean, I'm the Moon?" Midori shook her head. "I'm not a Senshi! I would have thought I would have been a perfect fit for the Love or Justice arcana."

"One's opinions of oneself does not make for such things."

"But that's weird. I mean, if the Wild Card is associated with the Fool, and Midori is already associated with it as well through Black Frost, why did Aigis get it, and not her?"

A sudden silence reached across the table as the three humans took in the implications of that. "Ken," Akihiko warned, "do you really want Midori to have access to the Wild Card?"

"HEY!" The girl in question objected loudly. "I would never betray Frosty like that!" To demonstrate her point, she summoned her Persona and engulfed him in a huge hug, glaring death and destruction at the two males that they dared suggest she use anything else.

Ken thought about it, then shuddered slightly. "Alright, it's for the best that Aigis got that power, no matter how it came to be." He put down his hand. "I'll get some water. Anyone else?"

"No thanks." "Yes, please." "I don't drink."

As Ken went back, Midori gathered up the cards for another round. "Seriously, Akihiko-sensei," she used the more formal address to make sure the gravity of her followup question was proper, "why did you say I would be a bad choice?"

Knowing he wouldn't get out of answering in the longrun, he took a breath to order his thoughts. "Part of the identification process behind ones Arcana is psychological, in addition to the nature of the Persona itself. Where the Fool, Frosty, is understood to represent the concepts of new beginnings, of wisdom in foolishness."

Midori hid her appreciation that Black Frost was indeed a new beginning, but didn't like the idea that the wisdom of "Love and Justice" was foolish.

"The Moon, once again from a psychological standpoint, represents dreaming, a certain frame of mind that isn't connected to the material world and in exercising it through creative means. There's a saying in English that translates loosely as 'Reaching for the Moon', which is to say, having an unattainable goal yet striving for it anyways."

She wasn't sure how to take that, so Midori decided to figure it was a compliment.

"You mentioned Justice and Lovers, right? Well, Ken is Justice. It coincides with not just with the notions of justice as in doing what's right, but also couched in terms of absolutes. Law. Order. Logic and Reason. You're far too emotional for that."

She nodded in understanding, disappointed.

"Lovers – Yukari, by the way – is about our personal relationships and our choices therein. It is not 'love' in the romantic sense, but rather the love that comes with knowing other people, our connections with other humans. I'm not sure what that says about her though, but for you, you're focused more on the ideal of 'Love', not the more material and immediate one."

"In summation, you, as a person, don't have the sense of the beginnings that the Fool requires. Your Persona represented the start of your journey as a Persona user, and hasn't changed. You're still moving forward. As a person, you are a dreamer, you don't see the world like the rest of us, and that allows Frosty to stay as a Fool whenever you interact with the rest of us."

Finished, Akihiko took the glass from Ken and drank it all down. "At least we still have power and water."

"That is a boon I will not examine too closely." Mitsuru announced from the stairs. "And your explanation was well formulated, Akihiko."

"Ah! Mitsuru! Do you have that message for me?"

Showing off a folded piece of paper in one hand, Mitsuru nodded. "Yes. However, I must remind you to not send it until as early as possible tomorrow morning." She handed it over to Midori, who accepted it gracefully. "I must speak with Fuuka for a few minutes, then I will return. Once Aigis is back, we will formulate our next course of action."

**The Abyss of Time**

"How goes it?" Mitsuru asked Fuuka as they both stood in the circle of doors.

"Well enough. Aigis is getting used to her new power, though she relayed to me that she seems to have reached a limit on the number of Personas she has, and needed to talk to Midori once she returned."

"Thank you. I have a question for you."

"Yes, senpai?"

"You know Kihara Atsuro." That wasn't the question, but a statement to make sure they were both on the same page. "Would you say that he is trustworthy?"

"Yes." Fuuka's response was immediate and absolute. "He is a skilled programmer, as good as I am, if not better. I can vouch for his honesty." She gathered her courage to ask a question of her own. "Why do you ask?"

"With this 'Babel Server' that Komaki has access too being under his jurisdiction, and it being constructed with Kirijo Group technology, it would be prudent to bring him into a more direct relationship with the Kirijo Group."

"You're going to _hire him_?" Fuuka was incredulous. And jealous. And not a bit scared. It would be something completely different to actually meet a person one has only talked to over the internet before in person.

"Yes. I take it you are in agreement?"

"Y... Yes, senapi."

It as at that moment that Aigis chose to emerge from the door leading out of Malebolge. The rest of the party followed close behind her in various states of energy and health. "Greetings, Mitsuru-san." Aigis bowed slightly. "I believe we are ready to complete this section of the Abyss" her report was curt as she walked past her senior and headed for the Dorm proper.

Slightly taken aback by the comment, Mitsuru spared some thought for the development, or rather backsliding of Aigis in the face of the adversity that they now faced. On some level, it was troubling, but the having Aigis focusing on their predicament and resolving it would also provide a good focus for the rest of the team.

Following Fuuka, she considered the possibility of using this as a means to keep Midori under the close watch of the Kirijo group as she socialized Aigis properly. It would be something worth considering as it would play more towards Midori's social side rather than the more direct approach of responsibility with her power, and would also help Aigis in the long term.

It would be something to think about.

**1****st**** Floor Lounge**

"Metis, Akihiko and Yukari." Aigis stated her team for the coming push to reach the limit of the dungeon.

"What about me...!" Midori stood and complained. "I'm feeling perfect!"

Aigis turned to face her junior. "Your assistance is not necessary at this point."

"Yes!" Metis announced from her position behind and supporting Aigis. "Sister doesn't need you!"

The look Midori shot Metis could have melted steel, but thankfully that was not the case. "Go ahead." Aigis commanded her team, "I will be a moment."

As the others filed out, the blonde robot bowed in apology to Midori. "Once again, I do not know what my sister has against you, Midori, but I apologize for her behaviour again. I will try to rectify her attitude as we progress."

Midori recognized the honest intent. But she couldn't help but feel that something was off. Instead, she found herself nodding and accepting the apology, dismissing Aigis to her duties. After she left, she huffed and collapsed into a seat beside Ken. "Argh! You know, I could stand Metis if she was acting one way or the other. But the moment she and Aigis are together, she becomes this.. this _bitch_."

Chidori raised one eyebrow in that universal declaration that she thought that Midori was being off herself in some way. Midori replied with an eyebrow of her own that demanded an explanation. Ken, not being female, had no idea what was being said, and instead started a second thread to the conversation. "Could it be because you're Aigis' friend? Metis thinks of you as a threat somehow?"

"I doubt it," Mitsuru said after a minute. "Naoya-san doesn't seem like the kind of person to create that sort of programming, even by accident. No, I think there is a bigger interaction going on here. Have you offended Metis in any way, Komaki?"

Her incredulous response was honest. "No! Never! Well, aside from fighting her when she showed up, I wasn't really rude to her or anything like that."

"Maybe it was because she offered battle against Metis before Aigis arrived?" Chidori pointed out as she accepted Koromaru into her lap and began to pet him. "Metis may have some lingering opinions from where Midori opposed her."

"You make it sound like she's holding a grudge," Ken observed the attention Koromaru was getting, wishing he could be the one holding the dog.

"She's not." Midori flatly said as she tried to figure out what made Metis tick. "I think she's just new to this whole 'other people' thing, and I'm just the one she doesn't like. I mean, there are some people you just hate with no reason, right?"

Blank looks came back. "Seriously? There's no one you don't like irrationally? Just because?"

Still nothing. "Well, _normal_ people can have that happen sometimes."

"Normal is not something that is applied to us all that often," Ken had to admit. "But yes, I've seen it with my classmates."

"And I, in the business world." Mitsuru found her own relation to the concept. "People who cannot let got of their personal feelings, and in the end, make things worse for the rest of us due to their personal actions."

"See!" Triumphant that she got her point across, Midori kept talking. "It's just like that! Except she doesn't like me."

"Then Aigis should talk to her to correct her behaviour."

Replying to Mitsuru, Midori gave her a pitying gaze. "You can't just 'correct' a person, Senpai. They may be robots, but they are people first. You can't just flip a switch when things don't go your way."

Ken and Chidori made sounds of agreement with her position, Koromaru barking as well.

**Malebolge, The Abyss of Time**

"Why do you disparage Midori?"

Akihiko and Yukari were unsurprised by Aigis' direct question, but Metis wasn't. "Sister? Why would you say that?"

The team descended quickly through Malebolge, and the humans were waiting for this confrontation to happen. "Because your fixation on her is unusual and disruptive. While I would prefer to trust you, if I was forced to make a permanent decision between the two of you, I will pick Midori."

Metis stopped, stunned at the brutal admission. "But why?" Her voice was full of pain and sorrow at the potential rejection."

"You evade the question!"

"She's evil!" Metis blurted out, "she can't be trusted!"

"That, I don't believe." Yukari interjected before Aigis could say something. "Sure, she's off in her own little world half the time, but in the end, she's a very loyal person. And I've never seen her do anything 'evil'."

"A Persona is the hidden self of the person made manifest, correct?" Metis found making her case against Yukari easier than trying to convince her Sister. And if she could convert others, they would be able to present her opinions better.

"Yes..."

"Well, Black Frost is evil. Therefore Midori's real side is evil."

"I think I know what she's talking about." Fuuka spoke up from the 'ground floor' of the Abyss. "I remember when Midori first summoned Frosty against the Hermit. I was unprepared for the raw energy she put out, and I called it 'evil', like it was a demon. But after that Igor she and Minato met apparently helped stabilize Frosty, that sensation was limited. Sure, it was still there, but it was far more... tame? Less? I don't know how to describe it, but it was no longer a distraction."

"I remember that," Yukari said, rolling her shoulders at the physical memories. "It was attacking me and she jumped out of nowhere to protect me. That's not evil."

"I agree." Akihiko recalled his own confusion over the excessive nature of Black Frost in the days that followed the fifth of September. "It was a defence mechanism that was a holdover from the Lockdown," he surprised himself by finally making these sorts of connections months after the fact, "the sense of 'evilness' was a way for her to keep foes away from her without actually fighting them, and it was lost when she started fighting Shadows and not other Persona users."

"But Black Frost is an evil fairy!" Metis objected again. "How can you not believe me?"

"Well, if what Akihiko says is true," Yukari waved one hand absently, "then maybe Midori turned on the 'evil' switch in Frosty when she fought you, and you're still under its effects? She is an actress of sorts, so it wouldn't be hard for her to fake that sort of thing."

Finding herself loosing the battle, Metis struggled to find a way to express her opinion of the subject of their discussion. But Aigis came to her rescue in a way. "That is enough. The hows and the whys of your dislike of her do not matter as long as you can control yourself. You do not need to impress me by trying to drag her down in my presence."

"Yes, Sister."

**Minatodai Dorm, 1****st**** Floor Lounge**

"Everyone, Aigis has cleared a path to the lowest part of Malebolge, and wants everyone there." Fuuka's voice rang through everyone's mind, causing them all to rouse themselves and prepare. "She encountered that black non-Shadow again, but it escaped while she was fighting the 'boss' of Malebolge. There is another door down there, and she wants everyone there for assistance."

"We will be right there." Mitsuru made sure her foil was properly secured before leading the rest of SEES into the Abyss.

[b]Malebolge, The Abyss of Time[/b]

"It's a door." Aigis examined the freestanding marble entryway flanked by two incense burners. The door backed out into an empty off-white sky that seemed sickly when compared to Aigis' own skin. They all stood on a segmented floor that bore the marks of the battle fought here against the Shadows that defended it. It looked to Midori like an appropriate end-room for the dungeon, so she was surprised that the door was there.

"It is our first goal," Metis clarified. "Beyond it is the first link that binds you here, Sister."

"I thought you said you already beat up the boss?" Ken questioned coolly. "Is there another one behind that?"

"No," Fuuka said as she dismissed her Persona. "There are no more Shadows in Malebolge. Coming here seems to have taken care of the rest of them. I cannot sense what is behind that door, but it must lead into a new region."

"Midori, Mitsuru, Chidori, will you please join me?" Aigis asked as she released the other members of her team to rest. "If there is something on the other side, we should be prepared."

Midori nodded, willing Frosty into existence. "Ready!"

Nodding at their stance, Aigis pushed open the door, and everyone was surrounded by a flash of brilliant and dazzling light.

"Agh!" Midori complained with many others as she reacted badly to the sudden change in the ambient illumination. As her eyes adjusted, she completely disbelieved the evidence of her senses.

"The Mall?" Yukari questioned her own eyes as the group took everything in. "No way! We're free!" With that, she broke into a run towards the front doors, leaving everyone else behind. "Come on!"

"Yukari! Wait!" Mitsuru yelled out to try and stop Yukari from making a possible mistake. "This can't be real!"

Heedless of the warning, Yukari ran past the fountain. "Halt!" The command was sharp, harsh, and male, a surprising voice that none had heard for days. It was enough to shock the brunette into halting to find who had spoken.

"Kurosawa-san!" Akihko called out in surprise as the police officer emerged from his office. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm working today. And what are you all doing here?" His sharp questioning gaze took in ever member of the group. "Today is a school day." His reprimand was quite direct, focused mostly on Mitsuru and Akihiko. Then he actually saw Aigis and Metis as the latter made her way through the group towards the front. "What? Is there some sort of event going on today? Those two are dressed unusually."

"Detective! We were trapped an just got out!" Yukari announced to anyone who could hear, though it looked like the Mall was empty.

"What are you talking about?" Kurosawa looked back between Yukari and the rest of SEES. "I know the rules don't have normal applications with you, but you still need to have concern for the rules. If you exceed yourself, the law is still on my side." He looked back to Yukari. "And that's Officer. Not Detective." With that, he turned and re-entered the police station, leaving everyone else to stand there, stunned.

"What." Midori began, "was. That."

"The date on this notice." Mitsuru had examined one of the posters on the window of the police station, "it it from last year. They all are."

"That doesn't make any sense." Ken looked around, still confused. "How did we get here?"

"Time is not linear," Metis said as she walked up to the fountain and stared at it with all the attention a robot could give something. "The Abyss of Time is just that, it is something that can connect not only _here_ and _there_, but also _now_ and _then_. Sister, what is this?"

"That is a 'fountain'," Aigis said as Metis ignored the reactions from the others. "I come here sometimes to gaze at it. I find it... soothing."

"You do too? R-really? That is good, Sister."

Midori joined up with Akihiko, Fuuka, Chidori and Mitsuru as they congregated at the base of the stairs leading up to the Mandagora. Beside them, the door leading back into the Abyss still stood there, ignored by everyone else. "What are you all thinking?" Chidori demanded softly. "This place doesn't seem real to me."

"It doesn't." Fuuka agreed. "But at the same time, it is."

"Komaki, check the stores." Mitsuru ordered as Midori made her presence known with a polite cough. "See if they are open, and if this place truly is disconnected in time from the Dorm."

Midori bowed, and did as she was told, quickly circling around the outside perimeter of the Mall, checking each store in turn. Her first stop was the Mandagora itself, but it was closed this early in the day. Next was the back hall, where she hoped to find some sign of the Velvet Room to give to Aigis, but found nothing instead. The jewelry store was closed, undergoing renovations, the pharmacy and music store both open, the store owners ready for business.

On a lark, she investigated the claw machine when she saw that there was a Jack Frost doll in it, though her one attempt failed. The front doors were shut, her hands slipping off the handles not matter how much she tried to grip them. Yukari was there, trying to find some purchase to no avail. She ignored Midori, though the younger girl didn't try very hard to get her attention.

Club Escapade was closed until the evening, the Cafe was open but she didn't enter, the potpourri store also closed and finally she saw Detective – no, 'Officer' - Kurosawa in his station, occasionally looking up into the Mall for any signs of trouble.

Returning to the group, she reported in.

"At least we can purchase limited supplies here," Mitsuru looked on the positive side of things. "I still have the Dorm Expense Card back in my office, so when we return, we can progress through Malebolge to get what we need."

"But why this date?" Fuuka asked the question that was on everyone's minds. "Why June of last year? Why not today, or rather, say yesterday, the 30th?"

No one had an answer.

"Anyways, we should return to the Dorm. We can make better plans now without the threat of running out of supplies being imminent."

"Until the local stores run dry," Chidori pointed out.

Metis spoke up from the fountain. "Just as the Dorm resets every night, so shall this place. Everything is connected."

"Wait, does that mean we'll have to fight through all those Shadows again to get here?" Ken groaned, causing Koromaru to whine in sympathy.

"I do not know."

"The list of things you know and do not start to irritate me, tin-child." Chidori narrowed her eyes as she insulted Metis. "Be properly useful for once."

"Um, Chidori? Should you be mean like that?" Midori kept her voice low as she saw something she didn't want to see start to develop.

"Don't worry," Akihiko whispered. "We're just checking something."

"Huh?"

Metis didn't seem to react to the words directed at her. "It is what it is, what use is there in trying to understand it all?"

"We must, in order to escape."

"I told you, you just have to follow Sister, and release the bonds that bind her!"

"And what if that's not good enough?"

Metis had no response.


	12. The Abyss of Time (6)

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dorm, 1st Floor Lounge**

**Evening**

"That's weird." Fuuka kept staring at the golden door that now rested against the real door leading into the basement. After they had collected supplies using cash on hand, the team had prepared themselves for a trip back through Malebolge to return to the Dorm.

Instead, the Mall connected right back to the Dorm, a sudden and unexpected shift that caused a few moments confusion as people tried to sort out what just happened. Metis wasn't much of a help, simply stating the obvious before finding a place to stand and waiting for Aigis to give her instructions.

"I think," Mitsuru tried to take control of the situation as Ken and Midori put their purchased food in the kitchen, "That we should take a break, rest for the rest of the day, then move onto the next step tomorrow."

"I can agree to that!" Yukari was grateful for the chance to relax, she dropped her weapon on the counter by the front door, and made herself useful collecting the others'.

Akihiko rolled his shoulders, massaging them as best he could with the awkward reach he had. "I'm for that too. I thought I was keeping in shape in the gym, but real battles are something different entirely."

"Like people trying to hit you back." Midori commented as she and Ken returned from the kitchen. "We've got ourselves enough food to last a couple more days, in case Metis is wrong about the Mall resetting. I think we should do something simple, like eggs on rice for supper tonight."

"Don't forget the meat," Chidori reminded her as she sat down on the couch. "I will have to admit though, it is surprising to find access to Paulowina Mall through the Abyss."

Koromaru barked something, and Aigis frowned. "I do not understand what you are trying to say. Since this event has begun, I have lost the ability to understand you."

"The Canine says that he would like his beef cooked properly this time; he did not enjoy the last time Midori cooked." Metis announced without turning around. "That is what he said, Sister."

"You can talk to Koro-chan?" Fuuka sounded surprised, "Well, I suppose it makes sense. You're Aigis' sister after all."

"Another thing we can fault the Wild Card ability for messing with in Aigis, then." Mitsuru made certain that all the weapons were collected by Yukari before securing them herself. "I cannot say I am pleased by this."

"I am not, either. I do not like having abilities removed from me without permission or understanding." Aigis added her concern as she took in the developing table being set for supper. In a way, it was a small celebration. A relief that there was a way forward.

And yet, she still felt unease. The reality of their situation still escaped them, despite – or perhaps because of - Metis's presence and claims. As she had with Minato, she looked around for someone she could emulate, to take her cues from. She dismissed each person in turn for a variety of reasons before she came to the conclusion that she could act at someone not present. She could still emulate Minato.

What would Minato do?

He would talk to everyone in turn. That was first. But then what? How would he take advantage of that knowledge? His thought processes were still a mystery to her. Sometimes they were obvious – making plans to go into Tartarus in order to improve themselves – but other times they were not. This was not one of the former, so it had to be one of the latter.

Mitsuru was an obvious person to start with, but she wasn't sure how to broach a conversation. A briefing on the Abyss and Malebolge was too formal for the casual atmosphere. There had to be some way she could begin.

She could talk to Fuuka.

**3****rd**** Floor Lounge**

**Night**

Midori groaned as she tried to sort out where she was going to sleep. While others had offered to pool together a futon or something, it just wasn't right. So for now, she was trying to curl up on one of the seats, or failing that, move the table so that she could raise her feet a bit.

She almost missed sleeping in the parks and back alleys that week.

Quietly, Aigis came up the stairs. "Did Metis go to our room?" she asked when she saw Midori recognize her.

"Yep."

"Thank you." Aigis turned to make for her room for the night when she stopped. In her rounds earlier, she had spoken to everyone except the girl behind her. It wasn't that she was trying to avoid the potential conversation, but just that... just that...

"You wanted to talk?" Midori, the impossibly observant person whom Aigis was certain could see right through her now and again, took the initiative away from her. She shuffled around, and sat properly. "Come on then. Grab a seat. You avoided me all day, and I'm getting tired of it."

Compelled, Aigis did as she was told. "I didn't know what to say. I have already apologized for the actions of my little sister."

Midori stared at her, and Aigis couldn't help but wonder at the depths hidden under those clear blue eyes when they weren't hidden by her glasses. "I... I..." She found herself at a loss as Midori kept piercing her with her look.

"I'm sorry," she finally muttered, "I've been a bad friend."

"Yes, I suppose you have." Midori let out an annoyed sigh, wondering why Aigis wanted to do this now of all times. Couldn't she see that she was tired? It was a chore to keep her eyes focused without her glasses, so she just aimed her head at where Aigis was sitting, and looked at the white blur. "But you have been trying to deal with Metis. I was told what she told you about Frosty, and I'm glad you didn't agree with her."

"It's more than that." Aigis found herself in unfamiliar territory with this sort of confession. It was not something a simple diagnostic could report for her reference, and she doubted that Midori could understand it in the first place. This was something wrong with her that no numbers could describe. "I have been a poor companion, a poor team mate"

"Leader" Midori interjected, causing Aigis to realize she was right.

"Yes. That too. I... Apologize."

"Forgiven." The word was abrupt, but no less true for it. "I forgave you that first night when we fought."

Surprised, Aigis tried to figure out why this could be true. All she could do was run around in logical circles leading to nothing for a minute or two before Midori cut across them with a simple point. "Aigis, you need to forgive yourself. Yes, we had a fight. That's what friends [i]do[/i]. We're not always going to be in agreement on something. We don't always have to like what we're doing, but we're still friends."

"I don't understand."

This time Midori sighed in despair. "You take things to literally. You aren't flexing your mind when dealing with other people. We can't be slotted into easy definitions. Heck, I'm proof of that!" She spread her arms wide open. "You want to know something? Frosty [i]is evil[/i]. He's a demon. But he's also my friend. I trust him. It is our differences, or various strengths and weaknesses that make us better. We can be friends without being the same." She recognized that she was rambling with her desire to sleep, there being less of a filter between her brain and her mouth than usual. She almost revealed the truth of Frosty's existence. She needed to stop. "Just...just learn to forgive yourself."

Aigis rose and left without saying another word.

Midori fell asleep.

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor Sitting Area**

**Early Morning**

"Wake up, Komaki." Mitsuru gently rolled the sleeping girl's shoulders to try and shake her into wakefulness. She was curled up in one of the chairs, a spare blanket from Aigis' room spread over her to keep her warm.

And yet, her COMP was sitting on the table, the cord connecting it to the power plug by the space the drink machines used to take up showed that the device was charged.

She considered letting Midori sleep, and to send the message herself. Curious, as she suspected that Midori had taken the simple precaution of assigning a password to her device (though in the same thought, the probability of said password being "Black Frost" or some variant thereof was deemed astronomical), she flipped it open.

Nothing. No password, no login screen. The device booted right to its custom firmware. She really wanted Kihara now, with the skill to reprogram technology like this. She saw amidst the active and deactivated icons the traditional letter symbol of the mail system, and after a moments fumbling with the control scheme (A touch-screen so small? Amazing!), activated the mail system.

Looking back at Midori, Mitsuru decided that she was capable of sending a simple message herself. This would avoid waking the traditional late-sleeper, as well making sure there were no errors or creative additions to the message that the young girl was sure to add.

Curious, she found the list of contacts, and opened it up. It didn't take her long to connect the _At-Low_ in her address book to the _Atsuro_ in reality given that same name appeared on the message and reply currently sitting in the in-box. But there were other names as well. Abel, whom she recalled may have been the Wild Card during the Lockdown. Yoo-hoo, another nickname. Gin, Mari, Ayane. Those names were familiar as she recalled Akihiko's report about other Persona users that Midori fought with, and their aspects. Haru was obviously the singer whose concert was back in January, and whose music Mitsuru now paid serious attention too.

Idly, she wondered if she could start an entertainment sector to the Kirijo Group's business, using her and her band as a starting point. But there was no time for more than idle speculation.

Izuna was obviously the SDF officer, and it was no surprise that there would be contact between the two.

She wondered where the friends she had made before the Lockdown were, but dismissed the thought as frivolous. The COMP came from those events, so it was only natural that the friends and connections she made during that week would appear here, while she had her other friends on a more traditional platform, like a cellphone.

Except the only phone she had was the one that was issued to her as a member of SEES. Or at least the only one she had ever seen.

No! Mitsuru shook her head clear. She had to send this message, and after a moment to sort how how to operate the tiny keyboard on the touchscreen, composed her message, explaining who she was and apologizing for using Komaki's address to ask for Kihara's help.

**The Abyss of Time**

**Morning**

"I don't see why she has to be here." Metis didn't sound like she was really objecting to Midori's presence, but she still said the words.

"Cocytus," Midori pointed to the door that was now 'active', "is emanating frost. Thus, Midori and Mitsuru, the two with a natural resistance to Ice, will be joining us."

Midori raised her hand. "No one told me what Cosy-tuss is!"

"Cocytus," Mitsuru corrected Midori's pronunciation, is another reference to the Christian afterlife. It is alternately the River of Wailing, where those laid out their regrets came. Or it could refer to the place where traitors are tormented for their sins. The literature is paradoxical."

"How do you know all that?" Midori demanded an explanation from her senior incredulously. "I mean, I can understand Aigis, she's still a robot with a perfect memory, but you?"

"Dante's Inferno is a classic of literature. I've read it multiple times in my spare time."

The idea that Mitsuru _had_ spare time boggled Midori; she refused to believe it. "Still, that's just..."

"I agree." Mitsuru ran a hand through her hair. "The idea that we are taking a metaphorical journey through the underworld is absurd. We aren't going in the right order. And I'm more interested in what we'll find at the bottom."

Aigis pushed the door open. "Then let us begin."

**Cocytus**

"Not freezing, Aigis."

"There was no reason to assume that there would be a connection between the condition of the outside door and the environment of the dungeon."

"Aigis, have you ever held a freezer open?"

"No."

"You should. The way the fog rolls out would then have been familiar."

"Are you done insulting Sister yet?"

"I wasn't insulting her. Just pointing out something she's missed while spending years locked in a facility somewhere. I bet you haven't either, Metis."

"..."

Fuuka finally broke in. "I sense the same special shadow as yesterday. It's below you. Get it!" With her encouragement, the team advanced into the Abyss.

They descended further into the Abyss, fighting whatever shadows came their way. It was easy going for the most part, as Aigis' plan to get everyone retrained in Malebolge yesterday seemed to have done the trick.

"You are a good team leader," Mitsuru complimented Aigis during a short break. Fuuka had detected another Floor Guardian below them, and so they decided to rest and prepare themselves for the coming encounter. "I am glad that you have lived up to my expectations."

"Thank you, Mitsuru-san." Aigis bowed, and Metis, proud of the compliment her Sister received, did the same. Midori didn't, as something else had come into her mind.

"Hey Aigis, you haven't found a door to the Velvet Room, right?"

"No," the robot admitted. "I am still unsure as to what I should be looking for in the first place." She thought for a moment before raising a concern of her own. "I also feel like I cannot hold any more Personas. Yet, when the opportunity to have one emerge, I seem to have the option to dismiss one from my repertoire."

Midori remembered that she could dismiss Demons from her COMP if she ran into the limit of 24. Which she never really did, come to think of it. Once she had joined up with Abel, there was enough space in everyone's COMPs for everyone to have their own demons.

And she still berated herself for having two Cait Siths. What was she thinking? Afterwards, the only time they got even close to the limit on their storage was when they were preparing for a lot of Demon Fusion on the last couple days after clearing out the Auction.

"I know." She finally said, but was careful as to how she phrased it. "But once you find the Velvet Room, you should be able to ask Igor to help you Fuse them together. My suggestion? Keep every Persona in your head a different tarot to allow for maximum variation."

"What do you mean?" Aigis asked as Mitsuru said nothing, but instead turned her attention to Midori. It was rare that she spoke of her old experiences like this.

"Well, when you fuse things together, what's important, well, more important than their relative strengths is their type. Fusing the same type together isn't going to give you the same variety as, say, two complimentary types."

"And what, then is complimentary?"

"Deity and Avatar!" Midori pulled out a combination that felt natural.

"Those aren't real" Metis smirked. "You're making things up, tricking Sister!"

"NO I'M NOT!" Midori wanted to hit herself for using Demonic species, rather than Persona Tarots, but fortunately, she thought of an out. "Anyways, it's not like we used Tarot stuff back in the Lockdown. We had to come up with our own system to describe things. So [i]there[/i]!" To add insult to insult, she blew a raspberry and pulled down on one eyelid at the ebony girl.

Aigis looked pensive. "And how do those classifications correlate to the system used by the Kirijo Group?" Mitsuru wanted to know too, but kept quiet as she thought again how good it would be to get Kihara Atsuro into her company. The information she could get from someone not as... emotive and instead more serious and logical would aid her greatly in examining the events of the Lockdown for more Persona users.

Midori was a trustworthy ally, that was for certain. But a reliable source of information? Not so much.

"I don't know," Midori was finally forced to admit. "I never really paid attention to that sort of thing. I got Frosty!" She held up her Persona like a trophy and a shield. The others recognized they would get no further with their questioning.

"We should advance now." Aigis commanded, leading the way to their scheduled conflict.

Midori had no sweat to wipe off. Of the four, she was the least harmed in the conflict. "Seriously?" Her question expressed her boggled mind. "I mean, I know sometimes you get lucky with the elements of the enemies, but this was just sad."

Metis glared at Midori. "Sister was lucky in picking you. Nothing more. You still are nothing before her power."

"Well, duh." Midori checked up on Mitsuru, who was recovering from the hard physical strikes and Fire magic she had taken. "She's a Wild Card now. But those Shadows... What were they again, Fuuka?"

"The Brilliant Cyclops and Soul Dancers?" The reply came from thin air. "I suppose so. Being able to ignore their mutual attacks while striking at their weaknesses did make the fight easier than it could have been." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I've lost that mysterious Shadow again, going further into Cocytus. But the good news is I don't sense any more major Shadows between here and the limit of the dungeon! Everything should be easy for you once you return to refresh yourselves."

"Understood." Aigis took in the report and the status of her team. Mitsuru could use to be rotated off, while Midori was in excellent condition. Metis was somewhere in-between, but could still function. "We will return to the Dorm."

A very proud Midori led the way through the emergent door back to the Abyss and upstairs to the Dorm.

**Minatodai Dorm, 1****st**** Floor Lounge**

Mitsuru glared at her shirt. It was damaged, and she wasn't sure she had enough spares in her room due to the necessity of closing the Dorm and moving out. She couldn't ask to borrow anyones uniform as in the case of Yukari, Fuuka and Aigis, they wouldn't fit her. Chidori didn't have one yet (though she was going to be fitted in the next week), and Midori was both too small, and in the wrong school now. That left her with the option of using some of her more causal clothes. It galled her to be on an operation without being in uniform, but what other choice did she have?

A buzzing came from Midori, and quickly the attention of the entire Dorm was on her. She found her COMP and flipped it open, a moments mad tapping to reach the email system. She read the message, then narrowed her eyes in anger at Mitsuru. "You sent the message without telling me?"

"Yes" Mitsuru agreed without guilt. "You were sound asleep, and I chose to send the message to Kihara myself, rather than wake you and trust your ability to function while tired."

"It's MY COMP!" she waved the device in one hand to emphasize her following points. "You may be in charge, but that doesn't give you the right to just use my things like that!"

"Calm down, girl." Chidori put a hand on Midori's leg to try and get her to do so. "I'm sure that Mitsuru had her reasons. There is no need to be so alarmed. You knew the message was going to be sent this morning, but raised no concern when it wasn't brought up. It was only logical that she took the initiative."

"But still!" Midori tried to express the feelings of violation of her privacy she felt. What if Mitsuru had stumbled on something she shouldn't have? It was just wrong, and she wanted to express her Justice in some visceral manner.

"Midori!" Akihiko's sharp call of her name brought her out of her train of thought. He had her attention. "Enough."

"Yes, sensei." She knew that she couldn't punish Mitsuru properly, but Akihiko could. He would be on her side. She looked down at the message again. "He says he sent your message earlier today, and stuff like that." She tossed down her COMP with a huff, allowing Fuuka to pick it up and examine the message herself.

"He has," she reported, then with a glance at Midori, who only huffed, passed the device to Mitsuru, who read the message in turn. The COMP was returned to Midori, who closed it and returned it to its protective pocket.

"I think I shall take Ken and Chidori with Midori and I back into Cocytus now." Aigis said to forestall any more arguments. "We will reach the bottom, then train everyone else some more. I thank you all for your patience."


	13. The Abyss of Time (7)

**?, ?, ?  
Cocytus, The Abyss of Time  
Daytime**

The four of them reached the bottom without much difficulty as Aigis gained more and more skill in switching her Personas in the middle of battle. It made things a lot easier for the rest of them, as thought the team could pretty much laugh off any form of Agi skills, they lacked a basic variety on the offence.

Finally, they reached the bottom, and they stood before the golden door. "I am confused," Chidori admitted, "Why is this doorway and accompanying area so different in design from the rest of the Abyss, or even the entrance?"

"Perhaps because it's like, an anchor or something?" Ken offered after a moments consideration. "Here is the real 'Abyss of Time', and everything before it is some sort of path?" I mean, we haven't been able to get back into that dungeon that led to the mall, so the path is maybe closed, and we're getting closer to getting out?"

"It is possible. And the rest are coming now." Aigis announced after quick consultation with Fuuka. "We shall wait."

Taking the cue to rest, they went their separate ways, though there was not much space in the area around the door. Aigis came over to Midori after making sure that the others would not be able easily eavesdrop on their conversation. "I still have not found the Velvet Room, or been in communication with Igor or his servants."

Midori could only feel unhelpful in response. "You met him once, right? He said he could help more than me, right? Well, we just need to keep looking."

"And yet, as I advance in experience, I can develop more Personas. And now I have to choose between keeping an old one that is developed, or a new one that may be better or not."

Grimacing, Midori remembered being able to Fuse and summon demons through the Auction House. "Well, do what you can, and be prepared for anything you can because you can't be certain of who is going to be with you or not."

"I know." Aigis shook her head sadly. "I know you want to help, but there is so little you can do for me. I cannot help but wonder why Igor said you could in the first place?"

"I don't know either." Midori spun around on her toes for the heck of it, letting the word rotate around her for once. "I can offer advice, I can even tell you about the things I've seen, but nothing more."

"We're here." Fuuka announced as she and the rest of the Dorm residents arrived.

"That was quick!" Ken said as he brushed himself off of non-existent dust.

"I think the places we go through shrink when we destroy the Shadows in them," Akihiko guessed aloud. "It makes going back through easier, even though we still have to pick off a couple stragglers."

"Sister, are you well?" Metis simply ignored the rest of them to assure herself that her fellow was alright. She quickly examined Aigis for any imperfection, then, satisfied with Aigis' condition strode towards the door. "Come on, let's get this over with."

"Needy much, your sister?" Chidori grumbled as everyone gathered around the door. "But she is right. We might as well open this up and get it over with."

"I agree." Mitsuru said, and gestured at the door. "Aigis, please?"

**Tartarus**

"So, this is the interior of Tartarus," a nondescript man in a labcoat commented as he looked around. Beside him was a tall and very dangerous looking man, and beside him was a young girl with her red hair in pigtails. "I am surprised that we found so many who could come into this place without special protection. [i]He[/i] certainly is a genius."

"Careful sir." The three in the middle of the lobby were surrounded by a quartet of armed guards. "Kandori's theories are still untested."

"What?" Midori spoke from her position at the entrance to the Lobby.

"This... Father?" Mitsuru took a hesitant step forward, then boldly advanced past the incredulous rest of them. "FATHER!"

The scientist spoke, unaware of the disturbance behind him. "Do remember that our normal weapons will have no effect here. Anything you brought will be for your peace of mind only." He turned to look at the others, but gave no sign of the large group behind them. "Everyone here has had their potential measured and improved in our labs. This should offer us some level of protection against the 'Shadows' in this place."

"Mitsuru!" Akihiko finally found his tongue, "Come back here!"

"Father! Listen! It's not safe! Why are you here?" Mitsuru ignored her friend and tried to grab at the man who could not be her father, only for her grip to meet nothing. "Father?"

"What is this, Tin Girl? Answer!" Chidori demanded with fire in her voice of Metis.

"The past."

"Are all the people in Ergo Division a little off?" One of the guards muttered a bit too loudly, "I mean, sir, is it safe to bring your daughter here?"

"I do not mind at all," the young girl said, turning to face the guard that spoke, in turn revealing herself to SEES. "I asked to come here."

"What." Mitsuru looked into her own eyes, the child measuring all she could see around him. "You.. what?"

"Come on, Mitsuru." Akihiko gently took her by the shoulder and began to drag her back towards the others. "I don't think this is real."

"This is real," Metis countered hard, "this is the past."

"Something's not right here..." Fuuka's brow furrowed in thought for a moment. "A SHADOW!" Her warning set everyone on edge, save those who could not interact with her. "But... where?"

A scream of agony ripped into the lobby of Tartarus as one of the guards was accosted by a Shadow as it emerged from the floor. Midori was mesmerized at the apparent hyper-reality of it, as the Maya pulled at the man who drew a pistol and started to fire wildly into the Shadow. It didn't work as he was pulled, fighting, down into the ground where he vanished.

"Well, so much for the concept of _potential_," the scientist muttered as the humans backed away from the Shadow, "we'll have to go back to the drawing board."

"Damn it, it's blocking the door." Takeharu Kirijo complained in that stoic manner of his as he subconciously moved to protect his daughter from the Shadow."

"This can't be..." the elder Mitsuru whispered through wide eyes. "This..."

"Frosty. Agi." Midori had enough of this play and moved to intercede. Her Persona jumped into existence and quickly engulfed the Maya in fire. It did not react. Assuming an elemental strength, she switched over to her other skill. "Bufu."

And still the Maya didn't react. "Father!" the two Mitsuru's yelled out as one, and in a flash the young girl dashed around to protect her father. A flash of light erupted from her, an unfocused release of power, and the Maya was seared away.

"Ah!" The scientist proclaimed as the light faded. "Persona! Naoya-sensei was right! Such an amazing thing!"

"How can you say such a thing?" Takeharu snapped at the man. "Do you have any idea the curse that is now upon us?"

"Father?" The young girl turned around to make sure her only living family was alright. "Don't worry father. I chose this."

The scene stopped, colour draining out of what was before them. "What." Yukari spoke up for the first time, echoing the question that everyone was asking themselves.

"As I said, the Abyss is tied to the past. This was one such moment." Metis explained again, a slight annoyance in her voice. "It is the moments that binds this portion of the Abyss in place."

"Mitsuru? Are you alright? What was that?" Akihiko held onto her gently as she stared, shocked at the ending of the scene in front of them. "Speak to me, please?"

"It was..." She tried to find the words, only for her tongue to fail her. No. That wasn't it, she realized, it was her own personal inability to admit what had just transpired. "It was real." The admission seemed to set something free. "It was the first time I manifested my Persona. My father wanted to show me the results of his failure. So he made it known that I could come with him, due to my 'power' and I took the opportunity."

Akihiko said nothing.

"The shadow appeared, and killed that man, and it was going to attack the rest of us. I had to use my persona to defend him. It was my first time. I suppose I was lucky."

"Memories?" Ken offered, speaking what was on their minds. "How does that affect the Abyss? I mean, is it using our pasts to be real? How does that work?"

"I..." Mitsuru regained herself. "We should go. Nothing will come of standing here anymore. What's done is done. What's past is past."

"Yes, we should, Sister." Metis agreed as she turned heel to walk back towards the golden door they entered from. "We are done here."

**Minatodai Dorm**

"What is that?" Aigis looked at something she could only see, a purple door set into the wall beside the front window.

"What is what, Sister?" Metis looked at where Aigis was, but to no avail. "Are you hurt and seeing things?"

"No. I think... Midori?"

"Yes, Aigis?"

"I'm think I'm seeing the entrance to the Velvet Room."

Midori squinted along Aigis' line of sight, but saw nothing. "Well, don't just stand here, go over, use the key he gave you, and say hello!"

"I... Don't know how."

She really wanted to facepalm, but Midori settled for a small sigh, ignoring the looks everyone else was giving them. "Just think of it as like the doors down in the Abyss. Walk up, and walk through it." She hazarded a guess based on her two times in Igor's presence. "And don't forget to be polite to them!"

Nodding, Aigis walked towards the door only she could see. Reaching up with one hand, she rested it against the substance of the door, then to outside observers, simply stopped for a moment before retracting her hand. "How long was I gone?"

"Not at all," Mitsuru replied, "but now I am curious. What did you do?"

"It's almost like how Minato would stare off into space sometimes. I thought he was just thinking." Ken muttered, Akihiko nodding in agreement.

"I met with Igor and his assistants," Aigis said. "We had a talk, then I availed myself of his services in Persona Fusion." She looked at Midori squarely. "I know have, amongst others, the King Frost. I know you dislike... competition in that regard."

"What? No! Whoever said that?"

"You did, when Minato created the Frost Ace."

"What? No! Black Frost is the Best Frost, and there is no arguing with that." Midori was very certain that a fight between a mere King Frost and her Frosty would be very one-sided from her experience. "Besides, you're you and I'm me. Why would we ever fight?"

Aigis seemed to relax. "I suggest we take some time, and talk over what happened at the bottom of Cocytus. This was a nice distraction, but we need to address that before we can go further with our explorations."

The spotlight suddenly on Mitsuru, she took to it as best she could. "Come on then, let us sit down for this." They did, arranging themselves to that Mitsuru had one end of the table while Aigis had the other. "As I said to Akihiko, what we saw there was my memory of the first time I entered Tartarus. My father took me with him, and well, you saw what happened. We were attacked, and I invoked my Persona for the first time to defend us."

"Then why that moment?" Chidori asked the question first, "It's not like it has a thematic connection with the Mall. If there was, we could create some sort of theory."

Everyone turned to look at Metis, who in turn seemed surprised at the attention. "What?"

"Well, you usually say something at this point, so we were expecting something this time." Yukari pointed out to Metis. "You seem to have all the answers, we just have to ask the right questions."

Metis thought about this for a minute, leaving everyone else in awkward silence. "The Abyss is linked to the past, and you are the foundations of those links. It appears as though when we release the various paths from the Abyss and their hold on the Dorm and my Sister, we encounter defining moments of yourselves. Realizing these moments weaken the Abyss."

That set off Midori's bullshit detector, and by the looks of others around the table, they all came to the same conclusion. But the nature of the lies and omissions still eluded her. And yet, it was still the best theory to work with. She didn't like the idea of trusting someone who was like that, and yet...

She wasn't cut out for that sort of thing, that was for sure. Thinking hard was more for Mitsuru and Akihiko, and they would obviously provide answers. "So... does that mean we're going to see something from your memories next time, Sempai, or from someone else?"

"Someone else." Metis said. "That was a weak connection to the past, but one that still had an effect on her. She accepted it and moved on."

"That sounds like it could have been easier to deal with than trying to kill us all," Fuuka accused, eyes narrowing at the implications. "Are you saying we can't face ourselves?"

"I did what I thought was best for Sister, and your welfare and mental capacities did not enter into those equations." Metis was cold in her calculations, causing another wave of ire to be directed at her.

"Mitsuru was kinda cute, don't you think?" Midori shot out in order to forestall the impending arguments. "I mean, she's not as cute as I was at that age, so there's that, but really, how come you didn't keep your hair like that?"

Recognizing the ploy for what it was, Mitsuru allowed herself to be drawn in. "I grew more mature with the knowledge and burdens of my powers. I didn't take them lightly." The not-so-subtle rebuke washed over Midori like water, leaving her to pout. "And I found that as I grew older, the style no longer fit the image of myself, so I went with this instead." She flipped one hand through her hair before returning to the conversation. "But I do want to thank you. You did have the initiative to try and interact with the memory. To use Black Frost to protect us."

"Well, I had to try."

"That's another thing that's different," Chidori turned the conversation towards a more serious thought. "On one hand, we can interact with the Mall – speaking of which, we need to check over there again – and on the other hand, we could only observe Mitsuru's memory. What is the difference?"

Another awkward silence descended on the Dorm.


	14. The Abyss of Time (8)

**?, ?, ?**

**4th Floor, Minatodai Dorm**

**Evening**

Knocking on Mitsuru's door, Akihiko checked his vest one more time. It was only reflex that had him put it on when he answered the call days ago, and now he was beginning to regret the decision as the days of fighting was starting to take its toll. Midori, he knew, had already started on Ken's clothes, though he suspected that it was more due to an impending growth spurt than anything else.

Mitsuru opened the door a crack to look at him before opening it up the rest of the way. "Is there a problem?"

Akihiko moved the door open the rest of the way, Mitsuru not contesting the action. "I don't know. You tell me."

Mitsuru opened her mouth to offer a retort, but then shut it again. She couldn't hide anything from him. "I'm sorry, please, come on in." She stepped aside and let him into the old Chairman's office. "Take a seat." She took one last look to make sure there were no additional guests, then closed the door, throwing the lock with a quiet snap.

She had shucked her jacket and Akihiko moved it to one side as he sat in the chair that he had many times before when meeting with the traitorous man. To his surprise, Mitsuru didn't take the chair on the far side of the table, but instead sat beside him, turning her chair slightly to face his. "Just you?" she asked without much in the way of trying for a polite start.

"No," Akihiko admitted softly, "a couple of us saw you were still hiding something, and I had to talk them down."

"Midori, obviously. It's easy to forget she's very observant." Akihiko nodded. "Fuuka too, she's spent so much time around me I wouldn't be surprised." Privately, Mitsuru was pleased that there were others who would come to her aid, not because of who she was, but from reasons far better.

"Chidori also caught what was going on, but decided it didn't concern her."

"Of course she would." There was a sigh of acceptance at the asocial behaviour so displayed. One person at a time, she had to remind herself. "So, what did you want me to say?"

"The truth, Mitsuru. We've been friends for far to long for you to give me anything less."

She had to agree. There was little she could hide from him. He had been the first person she told, before even Minato, when she broke off the political engagement that the company had tried to get her into after her father's death. "It was my father. Seeing him again. I... lost my composure. For that, I am sorry."

"Don't be." Akihiko said firmly. "We all have our weaknesses, and being faced with that memory so suddenly, anyone would lose themselves. Especially... no. You shouldn't be ashamed by that. I'm not going to think any less of you just because you showed off some human emotion."

A smile touched her lips, and Mitsuru stood. "Thank you. You know, when you said you wouldn't be coming to the last night here in the Dorm, I was very disappointed." She went behind the desk and pulled a key out of one drawer to use on another. "It was supposed to be the last, and I wanted to share this with you." From the second drawer, she pulled out a mid-size bottle that Akihiko instantly recognized as alcohol.

"What? Seriously? When did you buy that? Why?"

Looking down at the bottle, she rolled it in her hands. "Actually, I found it when I moved in after the Chairman's presence was removed. I think he had it for the sake of appearances. When I found it, I decided to keep it for celebrating after we defeated Nyx." She put the bottle down with a thumb, causing Akihiko to wince. He could see the label now, and recognized it as a very old, expensive and potent drink. "Something for you and I. But then we forgot, and when we remembered, Minato died. And after that, there wasn't the time, nor inclination for a celebration."

"Why show this to me now?"

"I wanted you to know. I had hoped to open the bottle and share a drink with you now that we were both of legal age, but given the current circumstances, I think that after we leave this situation behind us, I can overlook some under-aged drinking."

Arching an eyebrow, Akihiko inspected his old friend. "We're not twenty. And are you telling me your plans, or asking permission?"

"A little of both, I suppose." Mitsuru put the bottle away, relocking the drawer. "I'm just tired. You were right though, to worry for me. I reacted poorly to the unexpected. I should have better control over myself."

"We were all caught off guard by these events."

"We were. But that is no excuse to not meet it directly and to the best of our abilities."

Something clicked in Akihiko's mind. "You think you're slipping. That you didn't go right back to full leadership. You trusted Aigis. You trusted me. You trusted _Midori_ before you trusted yourself."

"I..." Mitsuru tried to examine her actions through the lens. "I did not think of it in that way." She returned to her seat beside Akihko. "I'm going to take over for my father, and I have been focusing my development on that. Do you think...?"

"You've chosen a different path. You were never really the same fighter that Shinji or I ever was. You did better supporting us from behind." He reached out a hand. "Don't think of yourself as being a failure in that regard. You're just finding your own strengths now that you have the chance."

**?, ?, ?**

**Caina, The Abyss of Time**

**Daytime**

They gathered at the bottom of the current section of the Abyss, the fallen Shadows and Guardians behind them. Midori was annoyed, but she didn't show it, having pretty much sat out of the entire day due to some concerns from Akihiko and Aigis.

At least she had a chance to make certain with her own eyes that Mitsuru was alright. The talk she and Akihiko had last night did her a lot of good. But now it was time to see what the next section of the Abyss held for them. Aigis, without prompt, made one last check that everyone was ready, then opened the door.

**?, ?, ?**

**Gekkoukan Junior High School, Tatsumi Port Island**

**Daytime**

"A school?" Fuuka looked around in confusion as the party stood up against a wall as students and the occasional teacher passed too and fro.

"Huh. This was my school," Akihiko admitted.

"And mine," Mitsuru added in. "This was where we first met."

"Are we going to see your memory again, Kirijo-chan?" Chidori offered as she waved a hand in front of a passing girl, even going so far as to try and touch her with her hand sliding off. "We cannot interact with this."

"No, it's mine." The admission came from Akihiko as certain voices cut through the crowd.

"Akihiko-kun, wait!" "Akihiko-kun!"

"I remember this."

"Hey! You're the captain, right?" An older man tried to be heard, fighting his way through the crowded students. "Hey! You! Sanada-san!"

"Quit pushing!"

"Yes?" From out of the crowd, a younger Akihiko strode, looking so much like his older self it was amazing. Although he was a bit shorter, and had a bandage over his nose.

"It was a lucky shot," the elder said by way of explanation. "Why don't we let this scene play out?"

The older man made his way through the thinning students, many of whom found other things to do in the face of the impending conversation, or stood back to surreptitiously observe. "That was an amazing bout! I've never seen anyone score a knockout like that in your age bracket before!" The compliment rolled off his tongue like silver. "I'm with the school you're competing against in the finals, so what do you say about enrolling with us?" He moved in close, bringing his earnest face far to close to Akihiko's own.

"Hey!" Another, older student stuck his arm in between the two. "You're from that school, right? Get the hell out! You're not supposed to do this! It's against the rules!"

With a smile, Akihiko swept aside his senior's arm. "That's alright. I wouldn't want to go to a school that could only place second." Even through his youth, his cool demeanour shone through. "Get outta here."

From behind him, two girls started squeeing. "Way to go senpai!" "You hear that you loser? He'll never go to your second-rate school!"

In a cloud of jeers, the scout fled the scene, the students forming a protective wall around their champion. "And even then, I was still alone," the modern Akihiko said even as the action continued. "But what's next is important."

A familiar voice made an unfamiliar sound. A chuckle. "I don't suppose you could have handled that a bit more politely?" Into the scene came Mitsuru, older than the last memory showed, but still full of youth.

"Spirals, Misturu-senpai?" Midori commented as the girl approached Akihiko.

"I was young. And yes, Amada," she replied and forestalled the question Ken was going to ask, "This is the first time he and I met."

"I heard it got crowded after your practice, so I chose to wait. I was not disappointed." The young Mitsuru's voice was full of the confidence she would carry with her into the current day. "Third year, Class C. Sanada Akihiko."

"Kirijo Mitsuru, Third Year, Class A." Akihiko replied, the two knowing full well who each other was. "Whaddyawant?"

"Oh, it is nothing troublesome. I have a simple request."

"And all I want is to train and get stronger." Akihiko said, "What could you request to cause me to give up that?"

"I have enemies that need defeating." She examined Akihiko's reaction to the implications. "But you need not worry. They are not human in the least."

"..." Akihiko asked a question in silence.

"Midnight," Mitsuru answered softly so as not to be overheard. "My enemies are related to that which you experience in that Dark Hour."

"..."

"You see, I too experience the same as you. The difference between you and me is that I know what it means. If you come with me, I will share what I know." She crossed her arms in that oh-so-familiar manner.

"Who are you, really?"

"You were right the first time, I am Kirijo Mitsuru." She stepped in a bit closer, "You said you wanted to build your strength? Well, what you need is a riskier challenge. Foes that are... different." She produced an Evoker from her bag and showed it to Akihiko. "And with this, you can fight them."

The memory ended. "You showed off an Evoker at your school." Chidori chastised Mitsuru evenly. "What were you thinking?"

"It was the best way to ensure his cooperation." Mitsuru recalled the events on her own, seeing where her memories differed from the record before her. "Can you imagine your reaction if I had asked you to act for something as ridiculous as 'Justice'?"

A pause and a sense of pressure came barrelling into her from behind. Alarmed at some possible new development that could bring harm, she spun around, hand on her rapier.

Midori stood there, Frosty held tightly to her chest. In that moment, Mitsuru understood what Fuuka and Metis had been warning about. The sheer malevolence coming off the girl and her Persona and directed at her was something to be worried about. "What did you say about 'Justice'?" Midori's voice was low and flat, Frosty's eyes burning with indignation. A clear circle had formed around her and people backed away.

"Fight! Fight!" Metis cried out before Aigis silenced her.

The thought crossed her mind. Of course she had considered it as an intellectual exercise. The possibility of fighting other Persona users was a terrible threat after STREGA was revealed. And Mitsuru remembered that her plan for Midori did not involve her at all as the elemental matchup was completely in Midori's favour, and she wasn't sure if she could keep ahead in a straight up brawl between them.

In short, the possibility of fighting Midori was not something she wanted. At all.

"No," she said calmly and evenly, removing her hand slowly from her weapon. "I said that _Akihiko_ would not respond to it, thinking the notion faulty. You and Frosty would gladly have taken that position in their place."

"Oh!" Instantly the pressure snapped off. "Alright then! I thought you made a mistake. Are we done here?"

"We are."

"What the hell was that?" Yukari blurted out, having recovered form Midori's display. "And don't anyone tell me it was nothing!"

"What are you talking about?" Midori expressed her confusion cleanly. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

**Minatodai Dorm, 1****st**** Floor Lounge**

Midori was kissing the floor in her attempts to offer as many apologies as she could to Mitsuru. And she had been doing it for about 10 minutes now. "Stop that," Mitsuru complained as while she accepted the initial fervent words, it started grating when she refused to _let it go_. To add to the situation, Frosty was trying its best to mimic Midori's posture, despite its body not being meant for it. It was just another reminder of just how off the Tokyo survivor was in terms of her power from everyone else.

It also turned out that no one had taken the time to tell Midori about Fuuka's initial impression of her those months ago, nor about the followup when Metis tried to insult her. "Sorry! So Sorry!" And she wasn't paying attention either, dismissing everything else in her overwrought attempt to make amends for her inadvertent threat display.

"Midori, that's enough." Aigis was unimpressed by everything, and her discussion with Metis over the nature of 'school' and her decision to leave was little more than a distraction.

"Sorry! I apologize! Frosty apologizes!"

"Midori!"

"Sorry!"

Her patience at an end, Aigis bent down and grabbed Midori by the collar, lifting her roughly to her feet. "Enough!"

"Ow! Aigis! I'm trying to say I'm sorry!"

"You did. Many times. Now is no longer the time for that, we must ready ourselves for the battles tomorrow. Go rest." Her comment was absolute and after a moment of meeting gazes with Midori, the human surrendered to her friend and made her way quietly upstairs.

**3****rd**** Floor Sitting Area**

Trying to relax, Midori failed to find a comfortable spot on the chairs again. It was aggravating, gnawing at her, the knowledge that she had _messed up_, and had somehow threatened _Mitsuru_ of all people! Playing it over in her head, the source was obvious. The insult against Love and Justice, and she just refused to accept that. Of course, she'd been angry before, that was natural. But what about that moment made her use Frosty in that manner.

And of course, how come Frosty could do that?

Her discomfort, it seemed, was more than just physical. And she didn't know how to deal with it. She couldn't just _talk_ to anyone, and that left her to face her shame by herself. And she couldn't just stay here, sitting still either, so she got up and started to pace.

First she walked up and down the length of the hallway again and again, stopping a couple times to check in on her old room, still empty and cold. And now that she thought about it, her suitcase of clothes and everything else was still downstairs and she didn't want to go there to get it, or anything out of it really, and some part of her was saying all she was doing was avoiding her problems.

Oh, and Aigis' door was open now! Surprised, she peeked in, grateful for the distraction. Metis was there, and her feeling soured. "Hello," she was greeted, and politeness demanded that she respond.

"Hello, Metis." Something seemed off about all this, and Midori raced to figure out what. "Where is Aigis?"

"Still downstairs. Did you want something?" The ebony robot stared at Midori with all the interest of someone looking down on an insect. Insect. Midori suddenly realized what was missing.

"Where's your mask?"

Metis seemed taken aback by the question, her fingers going to her face where her Butterfly mask used to reside. "It is... around somewhere."

"You should find it. It looked pretty." That wasn't the whole truth, but rather she wanted to say something that seemed polite. "Why a butterfly?"

"I don't understand."

"Why was your facemask made to look like a Butterfly? I mean, of all the things you could have done why that? Why a mask at all?" She gestured at Metis' face, "You obviously have no problems being without it, so, um, why?"

"I..." Midori could almost hear Metis admit that she didn't know before she actually gave her answer, "don't need it any more. It's not important. Now leave."

With the door verbally slammed in her face, Midori bowed and left, making sure the door closed behind her. She was on to something with the mask, she knew it, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember what it was. There was something important that she was forgetting, she knew it.

**1****st**** Floor, Lounge**

Mitsuru looked at the front door and sighed. There had been no arrivals, so she could only assume that her attempt to get resources from outside the Dorm had failed. It was a worthy try though. But for now, she would need to see what tomorrow would bring.


	15. The Abyss of Time (9)

**?, ?, ?**

**Minatodai Dorm, 1st Floor Lounge**

**Morning**

Mitsuru hid her amusement well as Midori came down last and then promptly launched into another round of formal apologies for her actions the day before. Although it wasn't her patience that ran out first, it was Chidori who snapped "Enough!" at her in order to break her out of her mental loop.

Setting the tone for the day, Mitsuru declared "Let us get breakfast first, then we shall advance into the next section of the Abyss." Hoping that was enough, she turned to Aigis. "Please choose your team for after we eat."

"Of course, Mitsuru-san." Aigis replied curtly, though she had made her decisions already. "Ken, Akihiko, Yukari. Would you please join me?"

"Yes Aigis!" "Of course." "I'll be ready." The responses ranged from professional or excited to resigned.

**Pualowina Mall**

**Daytime**

Midori glared at the shopping list in her hand. With the others going into the abyss, Mitsuru had delegated the day's shopping to her. And then gave the cashcard to Chidori. It was a simple thing, but she could tell that she was still in trouble. It was just so obvious! Mitsuru wasn't content with her apologizes, and would be heaping certain duties onto her as punishment. Today it was shopping. Who knows what tomorrow would bring?

"Stop it." Chidori's voice cut across her train of thought like one of her throwing axes.

"Stop what?

"You're getting stir crazy." The red-haired young woman strode to the central fountain, dragging Midori along through sheer presence. "You needed to get out of the Dorm, and with no other option, this is it."

"No, I'm not!"

"And yet, you're pacing." The calm observation caused Midori to stop, to realize that was exactly what she was doing. "So relax. You need to."

"I'm alright!" Midori's defence caused her to stomp toward the fountain to prove she could relax. That she was relaxed. That Chidori was just making stuff up. She hugged Frosty, for the comfort and to put out the best 'now you've gone and hurt my feelings' expression.

"That won't work on me, child. Grow up."

"Don't be so angry! You're like Mitsuru, except she keeps her stuff inside!"

"I do not appreciate the comparison. You're actions are partly the result of your inability to adapt to our situation, and I will not suffer for your misbehaviour." The words were harsh, but she felt they were necessary for her own wellbeing.

"But she doesn't like me!" Midori had to counter, carefully modulating her voice to not disturb the people trapped in this day with them. She had heard the others report that the day seemed scripted, unless those from the Dorm did something to get in the way of what happened. Apparently Chidori herself had tried to leave the mall by sliding into a group of housewives, but was denied exit.

"Oh, grow up!" The older girl detested being alone with Midori at the best of times, their personalities just too far apart to find common ground without some sort of mediator between them. And for a moment, she truly wished for Junpei to be here. He could have kept the blue-haired girl in line. She was certain of it. But it was not to be, no matter how much she wished for it. "You're not in trouble."

"Yes, I am!" The only thing stopping her from finishing the shopping was that Chiori held the purchasing power between the two of them. It was a distraction she wanted over and done with so she could get back to being ready to join Aigis and the others in the Abyss.

"No, you're not. Now, what's the first thing on the list?"

Midori sighed, obviously not getting any sympathy from Chidori. "Medicinal supplies from the Pharmacy, then a couple things for personal use by certain people."

They did their shopping in relative silence, the people they interacted with barely noticing that it was still technically school hours and that they shouldn't have been there. "I don't like that," Midori commented after finishing the last of the vital shopping and making for the cafe beside the bar. By casual agreement, anyone could spend time in the Mall to get away from the confines of the Dorm. And in the spirit of that, with no perishables in their bags, the two had decided to take a personal moment or two.

They quickly found empty seats and set down their load before ordering a simple drink each. As they waited, Midori flipped open her COMP to check her e-mail. She frowned at the lack of new messages. "I suppose I should tell Atsuro-san that he doesn't have to worry about the message from Mitsuru. It didn't work."

"You never explained to me how you came by that device," Chidori said with nonchalance. "I have heard that you picked it up during the Lockdown, but you and I never actually sat down and talked about it."

"What is there to discuss?" Midori pondered how to best compose her mail. "I got it, used it, and I'm using it still."

"While I would accept that, that it worked in the Dark Hour, and here tells me it's not a normal machine."

Midori looked up from her planning with a flat glare. "What's that supposed to mean? Talk to Fuuka then, she knows."

Knowing she had misstepped, Chidori lapsed into silence. "I was just curious."

"..." Midori turned her attention back to her COMP.

FROM: Dolly

TO: At-Low

RE: Previous message

Hey! You can ignore it. It isn't going to work out. Have a nice day! I'll tell you when it's tomorrow.

**Unknown Date, Unknown Time**

**Police Station, Tatsumi Port Island**

"Well, Sergeant?" The younger officer looked over his older partner and the young boy sitting behind them at the table. "What's the official result?"

"Ehh, you can go now," he sighed. "It looks like an accident. Although despite the circumstances, we can only file this with the routine paperwork." The older officer handed sheafs of paper to the younger to file. He then turned his attention to the young boy sitting alone in the chair.

"You're so small..." Fuuka breathed as she recognized the scene, drawing the attention of the living to the young man who stood among them.

"Why now?" Ken asked of the show before him. There was no answer.

"Hey kid, I'm sorry that took so long," the older officer was unaware of the byplay of the future observers. "Says here that your name is Amada, Ken. Is that right?"

Sullen silence was his reply.

"I know it's hard. Loosing your mother like that. I'm very sorry for your loss." He tried to sound sincere, but the exhaustion in his voice removed any chance of that. "But you can take solace that she gave her life to save yours."

Midori remembered hearing about this, how Ken's mother had died in a Persona-related incident. Shinji hadn't been the most forthcoming about those events, and afterwards, neither had Ken or Akihiko spoken to her about it. She didn't want to pry, and now it was all on display for everyone to see; she couldn't just not-see.

"..." Ken clammed up harder.

"I know this is hard. But I have to take your statement. You're a witness."

"If I told you what happened, would you believe me?" Ken's voice was soft, so full of hurt and betrayal that Midori had to check up on the real one, to see his reaction. He was showing nothing, which to her was a clear sign of what he was feeling. Nothing good.

Happy at his sudden bout of talking, the officer smiled. "Of course I would! I'm a police officer! You can trust us."

Midori bit back a racking cough of anger. No, you can't trust them. They're just as human as anyone else. She ignored any looks directed her way as she focused on the interplay before them instead.

"My mom... was murdered." Ken whispered.

"What...?" The officer put down the papers to focus on Ken, confusion on his face. "What do you mean?"

"It was around midnight," Ken confessed, "I got up to use the bathroom, and I heard voices by the door. There was a teenager there, holding his head and yelling"

"Shinji," Akihiko said.

"Wait, are you saying he did it? But the whole house was crushed!" The officer refused to believe that the two were connected the way the boy was implying.

"There was this kind of horse monster! It came out of him! And then it roared, and my house and my mom were..! Were!"

The officer understood. The boy couldn't understand what happened, and had to come up with this story to explain it. Monsters, not an accident. "A monster? That's not what happened, kid. I know I shouldn't say so, but after an accident like this, the mind can play tricks on you..."

Ken jumped out of his chair, stopping the man from saying any more. "I know what I saw! I really did!"

Silently the officer took Ken's shoulders in his hands, and got down to one knee to be on his level. "I'm sorry. But that's not what happened. A driver crashed his car into your house, an accident, plain and simple."

"But...! A car crash?" Ken stomped a foot, and raised his voice. "That's a lie! You said you'd believe me!"

The Sergeant was called out, leaving Ken alone in the room. "Wait!" He called out as the man left him behind. "I know what I saw..."

Then there was resolution in his eyes. "I know what I saw. I'll find him myself."

**Minatodai Dorm**

**Evening**

"That brought back a lot of memories," Ken admitted with a slight smile. "I thought of a lot of ways to search for him, but I couldn't do any of them alone." Taking the offered cup of tea, he sipped it gently. "And it was in that night I began to see the Dark Hour."

"My apologies, Amada." Mitsuru said quietly. "It must have been my family that set up the 'accident' cover up."

"That's alright, I've moved on."

"But now I have to wonder," Fuuka said carefully, "how come, except for the Mall, we seem to be moving forward in time?"

"I've seen that too," Akihiko agreed. "Mitsuru, Myself, Ken. We're up to three years ago."

"So, who would be next?" Yukari asked, looking around. "I mean, it's not like there's a theme."

"Actually, there is." Mitsuru observed. "Our first real introduction to Personas."

"That can't be right," Chidori countered. "I was aware of my power before Ken was. Therefore your theory is currently incorrect."

"Very well. And the access to Paulowina mall is another strike against my theory." Mitsuru almost sounded annoyed, but that was quickly covered up. "Metis, any input?"

"No."

"Nothing?" The eldest in the room almost looked annoyed by this sudden lack of commentary from her.

"No. If anything, Sister should have been next, not the boy." Metis shrugged, her disinterest in any form of explanation typical. "Other than that, I do not know."

Mitsuru acknowledged the evidence that mounted against her theory with a subtle sigh, leaving it behind with all the other things she had thought of, but been later proved wrong on. It was something that had become more and more common as this past year had advanced, her understanding of the nature of her power and her enemies changing with each new person she met, from Minato, to Aigis, Koromaru, Midori, STREGA...

And she was glad that she had such a supportive group around her, who did not fault her for her errors as would the people in the business world that her father had given to her.

"Well, Ken?" Midori said, completely glossing over all this to focus on the boy. "Anything you want to add?"

"No," he replied softly. "I've grown up since then. I'm not holding on to that anger any more." With that, he stood up and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to bed now."

"Good night!"


End file.
